


Life on the Flip-side

by asdflove



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: AU!Peridot has a terrible tendency to say more than is appropriate, All of those characters twice, Also only references to past Pearl/Rose, Alternate Universe - Human, F/F, Multiple Universes, Multiple Universes Colliding, To the point where I'm not sure if it should have a higher rating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2016-03-17
Packaged: 2018-05-09 02:59:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 33
Words: 62,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5522903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asdflove/pseuds/asdflove
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Crystal Gems fail to capture the Slinker, resulting in it colliding with the Crystal Heart. The impact alters the very fabric of reality, creating a parallel universe, with many of the same faces, but a surprising amount of normality. Until the two worlds begin to collide...</p><p>And a note of gratitude for the help of my friend Captain "Haha-Wait..." Infinity, reprising his role as fight scene coordinator, and making his debut as chief title fixer. This story wouldn't exist without him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Dimensional Quake

### Chapter 1

#### Dimensional Quake

“Ugh. That thing has probably been _wrecking_ my room for the past several hours.” Amethyst scowls, glaring at the temple door. “We need to get in there before it can wreck anything else! Only _I’m_ allowed to wreck my stuff!”

“There’s a lot worse it could do than just ‘wreck’ your piles of junk Amethyst.” Pearl scowls, crossing her arms. 

“Like what? Wreck _your_ junk?!”

“I was _referring_ to the possibility of it getting into _Garnet’s_ room, Amethyst!” Pearl scoffs, turning away from Amethyst. “You know, the room with all the bubbles!”

“Ugh. Whatever.”

Steven jumps between the two. “Hug time just ended, and you guys are fighting already!?” He looks between. “No matter _what_ the Slinker is wrecking, we should go after it pronto, right?”

“Yes.” Garnet says flatly standing behind the three gems and glaring at the temple door from behind her glasses. “Pronto. Amethyst, open your door.”

Amethyst groans, but does so, and the Crystal gems quickly enter. 

“So, where’s the Slinker. Garnet?” Steven smiles up at the fusion, who is silent for a moment and just picks him up, talking a step back. 

Seeing this the other two scramble away from the spot as well, just barely evading the gem monster in question as it bursts out of the ground, squealing in frustration at missing its mark.

Garnet sets Steven down and summons her gauntlets, charging at the monster, swinging at it with all her force. But she misses, the Slinker seeming to curl in the air to dodge her strikes, before diving back into the ground, causing Garnet’s punch to pass through empty air.

“Hmmm.” Garnet frowns and stares down at the hole the Slinker just dug. “We need to follow it.” Without another word she drops down into the hole, clinging to the side for traction, and the rest of the Crystal Gems quickly follow her. 

“Would it be best if we split up to find it?” Pearl asks, looking around the tunnel. “To cover more ground, so we can handle this quicker?”

Garnet shakes her head. “It’s too dangerous. It poofed Amethyst four times. We are _not_ splitting up.”

Pearl nods silently.

Steven grins. “So just keep our eyes and ears open?” He looks around the tunnel. 

“Yes. We need to poof it.” She pauses, frowning deeply, looking momentarily distracted. “Quickly.”

“Okey-doke.” Steven chirps cheerfully. “Let’s go!” He darts down the tunnel, ahead of the rest of the Crystal Gems. He stops at the end, looking up at the continued tunnel above his head. “The Slinker went back up guys!”

“Shhh.” Garnet hushes him. “We’re right behind you Steven. Don’t shout. You’ll just get its attention.”

“Ooooh.” He smiles sheepishly, whispering. “Right. Sorry.” 

They clamber up through the tunnel, back into Amethyst’s room proper, and they look around for any trace of the Slinker, but it seems to have vanished. 

“ _Great_. The stupid thing is probably tearing through another pile of my junk as we speak!” Amethyst crosses her arms and scowls. “This is so stupid…”

“We…” Garnet pauses, her hand on her forehead. “We need to hurry. Listen closely for the hissing.”

The Crystal gems walk slowly through Amethyst’s room, keeping both eyes and ears out for the Slinker, as they weave through the towering piles of junk.

“It has to be somewhere…” Pearl mutters. “It would be easier to find if your room was cleaner, Amethyst.”

“Well excuse me if I’m not as _obsessively_ neat as you!” Amethyst snaps

“You’re not neat at all! You quite literally have massive _piles of trash **everywhere**_!” Pearl scowls, crossing her arms. 

_Hiiiissssss_

Steven looks away from Amethyst’s and Pearl’s bickering and towards the hissing sound. “Uh. Garnet, do you hear that?”

Garnet nods. “It’s close.” She turns her head to the bickering pair. “Stop it. This is serious.”

The two stop immediately, and the hissing noise sounds again, followed quickly by sounds of shifting in the piles.

Then, for a mercilessly brief moment, absolute silence. 

The Slinker explodes out of a nearby pile- sending it cascading down with a crash- and right past Steven’s feet. 

He grabs the tail end of one of the vines as it moves past him, and it yanks him along with as it zooms along. “Hey guys! I got i-aaaaaaaaaah!”

“STEVEN!” Pearl shouts, trying and failing to grab him before the Slinker pulls him off.

The Slinker flails around wildly, trying to shake Steven off, and starts diving down into the ground, coming back up near the gems, who dare not attack while Steven is still clinging to the monster.

"Guys-" Steven shouts, hitting the ground roughly as the Slinker drags him around. "-This-" He hits the ground again. "-REALLY-” Again, he’s slammed into the ground by the monster. "Isn't-" The Slinker digs underground, taking Steven with it, before shooting back up a few moments later, sending dirt and trash cascading into the air. "Fuuuuuuuuuuun!" Steven lets go of the Slinker and crashes onto his back in front of the gems, groaning. 

Pearl is kneeling at his side in an instant. "Are you okay, Steven!?"

Steven sits up with a slight groan, rubbing his head. “Ugh.” He stands up slowly. “I'm fine, but the Slinker is getting away.”

"Don't worry, we'll catch it. All possibilities point to it going towards one place within the temple." Garnet adjusts her visor, scowling. "Though it isn't one I like." She sighs. “Let’s go.” Garnet walks off quickly, just… stepping into one of Amethyst’s puddles and vanishing completely beneath its surface.

“Crap! It’s going to her room!?” Amethyst rolls after Garnet, and after sharing a look, Pearl and Steven swiftly follow.

They fall into Garnet’s room, only to find the Slinker clinging to the wall, and Garnet staring at it, looking cautious. “No sudden movements Gems…” She murmurs, and though her eyes aren’t visible it’s clear that she’s staring at it hard. 

“Is… is it going to try and pop bubbles, Garnet?” Steven whispers, half hiding behind the fusion gem. 

Garnet shakes her head. “… No.” She’s silent for a moment. “We need to act before it does, but not too quickly…”

“What… What is it going to do?” Steven bites his lip, staring up at it. 

“Something…” Garnet summons her gauntlets but otherwise is still as a statue. “Something that doesn’t make much sense…”

Pearl frowns, stepping slowly up next to Garnet, grabbing her arm. "What is it Garnet?” Her eyes flick up at the Slinker, and to Garnet’s increasingly worried expression. “What's coming!?"

Garnet slowly raises her fists, and the Slinker creeps up the wall, just inching up. "It's…” She frowns. “Us?"

“What do you mean it’s u-” Pearl cuts herself off as the Slinker suddenly darts up, and into the room above. The gems quickly follow it into Rose’s room, only for it to continue upward further into the Crystal Heart room, still tailed by the gems. 

In the room with the Crystal Heart, the Slinker is just clinging to one of the veins, twisting around it slowly. Garnet holds out her arms to block the Crystal Gems, just staring at it. “Okay gems, we need to act qui-”

The Slinker suddenly launches itself at the Crystal Heart, high above the gem’s heads, and slams into it with a resounding BANG, and causing a massive, rumbling quake that unbalances Steven, knocking him off his feet. The air seems to ripple and, just for the briefest second, the room flashes, seeming to be a different place for a near imperceptible moment.

The Slinker, seeming to ripple as well, though in a much more violent and seemingly-painful way, darts back down the vein, vanishing back into Rose’s room below.

“W-what was that?” Steven stammers, looking up at where the Slinker left Garnet’s room. “What did it do?”

Pearl helps Steven back to his feet, and looks at Garnet expectantly, clearly wanting the same questions answered. 

“Something… bad.” Garnet takes her visor off, and all three of her eyes are narrowed and she looks up at where the Slinker left. 

“Should… Should we go after it?” Pearl asks slowly, grabbing Garnet’s arm. “It went into Rose’s room.”

Garnet is silent for a moment. “No. That quake will likely cause Rose’s Room to glitch. It’s probably not safe to follow it.”

Amethyst scowls. “Ugh. So what do we do now?”

“For now?” Garnet turns away, and opens the door back out to the house. “We move on.”  



	2. A Mile in My Own Shoes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven's world drastically changes.

### Chapter 2

#### A Mile in My Own Shoes

Steven sits up in bed with a yawn, rubbing at his eyes. “Good morning-” He glances down from his bed, seeing the room empty. “Oh. I guess they’re all busy.” He climbs down from his loft room into the open living room and kitchen. He glances around again, something seeming… _off_ about the room.

He shrugs it off and walks into the kitchen to get himself a bowl of cereal. “Wonder where everyone is?” He sighs, filling a bowl. “Did they go on a mission without me?”

After finishing his breakfast he goes back up to the loft area of the room to play video games. He sinks to the floor at the foot of his bed and grabs a controller, booting up the game system. 

“Doodoodoo, playing my video ga- huh?” He stops his random singing to himself as the wrong title screen comes up on the screen in front of him. “This… isn’t the game I left in it?” He shakes his head. “Was Amethyst playing my games?” He sighs, and fishes through his games, puzzled by a few unfamiliar titles. “What the heck? I don’t own this game…”

Something gently bumps into Steven’s side, and he turns his head to see a large orange long-haired tabby, with the fur around his neck fluffed up like a lion’s mane, just sitting there staring at him expectantly.

“Huh? Well hello there kitty?” Steven scratches the cat’s ear, mildly puzzled. “How’d you get in here?” He picks the kitty up, smiling at its purring. “Awww. You’re a cutie. Yes, yes you are.” Steven coos over the cat, clambering up on his bed as he cuddles the cat. “You are very cute random kitty. Yes you are…” He flops over on his stomach, the cat curling up in front of his face. He freezes in his petting of the cat, getting an irritated one eye open look from the cat. 

Something isn’t right. 

Why… Why doesn’t he feel his gem?

He sits up quickly, making the cat jump a little ways over on the bed as he yanks his shirt up and stares blankly at his navel. His navel. The navel which he shouldn’t have. The navel where his gem should be. The gem which is no longer there

“W-where is my gem!?” He squeaks. “K-kitty? Did you take my gem!?” 

The cat sits up and blinks slowly at him. 

Steven groans and bolts down from the bed, and tears his way outside, freezing instantly as he does so. He finds himself standing on a street near the boardwalk. _Not_ on the beach. He glances over his shoulder to see a nice little house in pastel colours. A house which is most _definitely_ not the temple.

“W-what the heck!?” He takes a shuddering breath and steels himself to walk back to the temple. 

“Hey Steven! I’m free for the next hour or so. Wanna hang out?”

Steven slows, walking past the house next door to the one he left. “Oh… Uh, hi Connie.” He smiles nervously. “Can't stay and talk. I think the world broke!” He breaks into a run, rushing towards the temple, only realizing after he was halfway down the street that Connie had no good reason to be there.

He’s forced to stop as his dad pulls up next to him, leaning out the window of his van. “Hey Shtoo-ball. Where are you running off to?” 

“… The temple, though I was going to stop at the Big Donut on my way.”

“Temple?”

“… You know, on the beach?” Steven says slowly, narrowing his eyes at his dad.

“Isn’t the Big Donut a little out of the way for just going to the Beach?”

“… No. It’s just on the other side of Lighthouse Park a-”

“You’re going to you mother’s house?” His dad shakes his head. “Why?”

“… Because…” Steven frowns. “I _live_ there?”

It’s several moments before Steven’s dad says a word, just _staring_ at Steven in bewilderment. “No, no you d-”

“I don’t have time for this! The world is broken! I need to figure out what’s going on!” Steven turns on his heel and bolts off. 

His dad doesn’t follow him.

He runs into the big donut, briefly relieved to see Sadie and Lars behind the counter as normal, but he hesitates before slowly walking up to the counter. “Hey guys…”

“Hello Steven. Is everything alright?” Sadie smile warmly, and Lars turns up the volume on the music that he’s listening to through earbuds.

“Oh, uh, yeah! Everything’s fine! Just, uh… What… What did we do on Halloween?” He forces a smile in response to her bemused expression.

“Well, you, me, and Lars-” She points her thumb at Lars. “Went up to the Lighthouse and watched scary movies with Ronaldo.”

Steven nods excitedly. “Yes! Yes! And then what happened?”

“We… We all went home?”

Steven deflates, sighing. “No! What about the ghost! And you getting taken!? And it being because of Lars!?”

“… Are you sure you didn’t fall asleep behind that couch at some point?”

“GAAAAAAH!” Steven screams then darts out of the big donut and quickly around the cliff to the… large Manor House!? Steven looks up at the massive gothic mansion where his home should be, at an utter loss for words.

“The world is _so_ broken.” He groans, falling to his knees. “I… think I need to find the gems…”

\----★----★----★----★----★----★----★----★----★----★----★----★----★----★----★----★----★----★----★----★----★----★----★----★----  
Steven sits up with a yawn, rubbing at his eyes. Wordlessly he climbs down from his bed and goes to the bathroom to get ready for the day.

Dressed and fully awake, he leaves the bathroom and wanders to the kitchen, staring at the… crystal platform where Pearl’s rug is supposed to be. 

Silently he eats his breakfast, not taking his eyes off the platform as he does so. Washing his cereal bowl and putting it back away, he comes to a realization, and chuckles. “Probably a prank by Amethyst. She did always say that it looked like a sci-fi teleporter pad.” He walks over to it and jumps on, grinning. “Hey, this thing is pretty cool. Woosh!” He throws his arms into the air with a laugh “... Haha, what am I thinkiaaaaaaaaaahhhh!!!” A bright light flares up, taking him into the air, and a moment later he crashes back down in an unfamiliar place. “AAAAHHHhhhh!” He springs to his feet. “Woosh again! Woosh again!!!” It happens again and he falls out of the stream back into the living room.

A squiggly purple line appears down the door that’s supposed to lead to a closet and Amethyst steps out, but she looks _weird_. Purple skin and white hair?

“AAA!” Steven scrambles backward. “Amethyst! Why are you purple!?”

"I dunno.” She shrugs, looking bemused. “Why's your hair all curly?"

"....THAT IS NOT _REMOTELY_ THE SAME QUESTION!!!" 

“Uh, I just AM Steven.” She scoffs, rolling her eyes. “Ugh, what's wrong with you?”

"Oooooh man.” Steven runs his hands through his hair and turns away from the weirdly purple Amethyst. “Okay. I-I need to calm down. How do I calm down? Oh! I know!” He looks around wildly. “Lion! Lion? Where are you? I'm kinda having an emotional breakdown here." A _pink LION_ runs up out of _nowhere_ and gently butts its massive head against Steven’s shoulder. Steven stumbles backward, away from the wild animal, screaming. "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" 

The lion sits down and stares at him, as if waiting. 

“Wait…” Steven takes a hesitant step back towards the animal. “Lion?”

The lion cocks its head to the side, seeming to acknowledge his name.

Taking a deep breath, Steven crosses the gap to the lion, and scratches him behind his ear, being rewarded immediately with purring. “Wow. You even like getting scratched in the exact same spot behind your ears. What the HECK is going on?”

A light blue line appears straight down the closet door and Pearl, with white skin, pink hair, and a white rock in her forehead runs out with a spiraly spear in her hand. “STEVEN! ARE YOU OKAY!?”

“Pearl! Why are you a different colour!? What's wrong with your hair? Why are you carrying a spear and WHY IS EVERYONE COMING OUT OF THE CLOSET!?!” 

Pearl blinks several times in confusion. “Uuuuh.” The spear in her hands vanishes, dissipating into sparkles and her arms drop to her sides. After a moment she approaches him slowly. “Steven. Please just- Just calm down…” She crouches down next to him, reaches to put a hand on his shoulder, but he flinches back, shaking his head rapidly.

“No!” He shouts, waving his arms. “No stay away! This is too weird! Everyone just GIVE ME SOME SPACE!” Something under his shirt glows and a translucent pink bubble appears around Steven. “…AAAAAAAHHH!!!!” He screams. “WHY AM I IN A BUBBLE!?!”

“St-steven!” Pearl half holds a hand out to him, but quickly pulls it back, looking nervous.

"Get me out! Get me out!" Steven tries shoving on the inside of the bubble, hoping it will pop it or something, but only rolls it, knocking himself flat on his back, and causing his shirt to pull up. “Ow! My hea-” He stops abruptly, staring at the pink gem in his navel with wide eyes. “…P-Pearl?"

"Y-yes Steven?"

"Why do I have a gem in my belly button?” He sits up. “Please tell me what's happening.” The pink bubble dissipates into sparkles and Steven start crying, tears streaming openly down his face. “I-I’m scared.”

Pearl rushes to his side, quickly pulling him into a hug, and for several minutes he just cries into her shoulder, but she pulls away, keeping both her hands on his shoulders. “Alright Steven.” She lets out a slow breath. “Tell me the last thing you remember before you started getting scared.”

"I…” He sniffles, blinking away tears. “I uh, noticed that the rug had been replaced by a platform.”

Pearl is silent for a moment, clearly thinking over what he said. "…Do you remember the platform as always being a rug?"

"…Yes!” He shakes his head incredulously. “Pearl, you bought it! Amethyst always makes fun of it! I th-thought she replaced it as a joke but it actually teleported me!”

“… Steven, the warp pad has been there since before you were born.” She sighs. “It's as old as the temple."

“…Temple?”

Pearl looks over at Amethyst with wide eyes, silently pleading for help.

Amethyst just shrugs.

“Steven…” She bites her lip, her brow furrowed. “Where do you think you are right now?”

Steven blinks several times, not believing the question. “…Your house, obviously.”

Amethyst snickers. “Hah! Pearl doesn't own the place! No matter how much she acts like she does!”

“Hey!” Pearl scows at Amethyst for just a brief moment before she turns her attention back to Steven. “Oh. Uh. Steven. You're in the temple. It's your home on the beach in Beach City. We built the house for you when you were a toddler so we could keep an eye on you.”

“…You don't live on the Beach.” Steven says slowly, staring at Pearl disbelievingly. “You live near the boardwalk, but not on the beach."

Amethyst laughs, throwing her head back. “Haha!” She points out the window. “Well that angry seagull trying to eat my leftover nachos outside begs to differ."

Steven look towards the window and frowns. Clambering to his feet, he walks over to look out proper, and screams, seeing the beach there. 

Without another word he runs outside, looking around at the beach... And turns around, gazing up at the massive statue of the eight-armed woman, then just stands there, jaw agape, at what he's seeing. He falls backwards onto his butt. “Oooooh.” Steven shakes his head slowly. “Oooooooooohmygosh. I-I can't-”

“Steven! Lookout!” Garnet- with strangely purple skin- rushes up out of nowhere and blocks a large wave from hitting Steven by PUNCHING IT AWAY, and then turns to look at Steven.

“Steven. Are you alright?”

“Oh… Hey Garnet…” Steven flops back, staring up at the sky. “Good to see at least you haven't changed…"


	3. Chapter 3: Gem Switch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven isn't the only one who finds themself in an alternate universe.

### Chapter 3

#### Gem Switch

Pearl flips idly through a book, not really having high hope that it will contain anything helpful pertaining to Steven’s bizarre… Memory loss? Memory… Replacement? She snaps her book closed and sighs, and she opens her eyes to the sight of a completely different room, and to her sitting at a desk with half finished blueprints in front of her, absolutely _nothing_ about _anything_ looking even remotely familiar. She represses a scream and turns around in the chair- it’s one of those swivel office chairs- to take in the new room.

It’s… remarkably similar in aesthetic to her room at the temple. Blue floors, star patterned dark blue and purple wallpaper, a large area rug that looks like a pool of water, and a circular canopy bed with gauzy golden hangings, covered by a silky bedspread that also resembles water.

She takes a shaky breath, trying to compose herself. "O-okay. Just- Just calm down Pearl. There h-has to be a rational explanation for this. The _has_ to be. You just need to stay calm so you can _focus_ and figure this out.” She turns the chair back towards the desk. “Just… Stay calm… Are these blueprints?” She looks closely at the sheets of blue and white paper, examining the unfinished airplane design. “…These designs are so slipshod! They disregard several minor laws of physics! Is... Is that a TURBINE engine!?” She shakes her head, quickly modifying and finishing the design.

Now significantly calmer, Pearl rises to her feet, determined to figure out what’s going on, starting with where she is. She glances back at the desk, and frowns at the blueprints, suddenly recognizing the earlier work as her own handwriting, and shakes her head slowly.

It _couldn’t_ be…

She rushes over to a nearby stereo and turns it on, only for her favourite music to start playing. Frowning at _more_ evidence that this stuff is _hers_ she leaves the room, weaving out into a room that gives her pause in how utterly similar it looks to the Beach House in the temple. Shaking it off she checks a kitchen cabinet and sees all the cups ordered by colour and amount of vectors per cylinder. She lets out a slow breath, unable to deny that she- or at least someone incredibly like her -lives here.

She hears the window open and turns around to see _Amethyst of all people_ climbing in through it. “Hey P! How's it going?”

“Amethyst! Thank goodness! Something terrible has ha-” She cuts herself off, starting with narrowed eyes at the brown skinned, blonde haired version of her friend. “Why are you brown!?”

“Racist P! Racist!” Amethyst puts her hands on her hips, pretending to be offended.

“What?” Pearl shakes her head. “No- I- Why AREN'T you purple?”

“Pfft.” Amethyst snickers. “What, do you think I'm a grape?"

“No!” Pearl throws her hands to the side, leaving the kitchen area just as Amethyst moseys into it, grabbing a bag of chips. “I think you're Amethyst! My friend for the last several thousand years! And I'm Pea-" She glances at a mirror, and sees her reflection, with pale peachy skin, a smattering of freckles across her face and neat short cut orange-red hair framing her face in curls. "Aaaaah! What's wrong with my skin!?"

"Uhhh…” Amethyst munches on her chips, her brow furrowed. “They're called freckles dude." She rolls her eyes. "And what's with the 'thousands of years'-thing? I know I _SAY_ a minute with you is like an eternity, but geeze."

For a good awkward minute Pearl just stares at Amethyst, who stares back with raised eyebrows all the while eating chips.

Steven walks into the room holding a photo album, looking visibly concerned. “Pearl! I've been checking all of your albums! NONE of this stuff happened! I don't remember going to Canada! What's happening!? I'm so confused!”

“Canada!?” Pearl shakes her head. “You've never been to Canada.”

"… …PEARL.” Steven drops the scrapbook and runs up to Pearl, staring up at her hopefully.  “Pearl who am I?”

“You're Steven…Why- Wait…” She shakes her head slowly, thinking about how Steven was acting before this happened. “No…”

“Pearl FOCUS.” Steven pulls on her arm. “Who are we? What do we do?”

“We're…” She pauses, her brow furrowed. “The Crystal Gems. Steven! Are…” She gasps. “You!”

Steven throws his arms around Pearl, hugging her tightly. “Oh my gosh!” His voice is thick, like he’s fighting back tears. “It's really you! Thank goodness! I've been so scared! Nobody remembers _ANYTHING_! They don't know about the gems, or the temple, or ANYTHING. Oh I'm so glad you're okay!

“Yo.” Both of them look over at the very confused Amethyst. “What are you two jabbering about?”

“Amethyst…” Pearl sighs, then looks back down at Steven. “Just before _you_ were the one who didn't remember anything, Steven."

"Remember what? What are you guys talking about?” Amethyst walks over to the pair. “Why are you both acting so weird? P, I expect this weirdness from you, but did you have to drag Steven into your crazy too?” She shakes her head. “Ugh. Whatever, I'm out. Be sure to let me know when you guys are normal again.” She walks over to the window and jumps out.

With a quick glance at the area rug roughly where the warp pad is in the temple, Pearl creeps over to the window and lets out a slow breath when she sees that they are, in fact, near the boardwalk.

“Pearl?…” Steven walks up next to her, stopping just short of the window. “Pearl, where we?”

She turns around to face him, crossing her arms and staring at the floor. “I… don't know, Steven." She sighs, and looks at Steven, her gaze steely. “But I intend to find out.”

\----★----★----★----★----★----★----★----★----★----★----★----★----★----★----★----★----★----★----★----★----★----★----★----★----

Pearl taps her fingers on her desk impatiently, just staring at the blueprint in front of her, drawing blanks on where to take the half-finished design. “Uuuugh.” She closes her eyes, leaning back in her chair. There has _got_ to be something she can do with this. She can’t just leave it. It’s her livelihood, and she’s got to keep food on the table for Steven -and Amethyst- somehow.

She opens her eyes and screams, seeing the utterly massive room that hers seems to have morphed into, with golden hangings above her head, and fountains, with waterfalls dropping to a lake way below, all around her.

Just a second after that she realizes that she’s standing on the largest fountain of them all.

She’s standing on _water_.

Standing. On. WATER.

Pearl falls through with a splash and a shriek, landing in a pool of water at the bottom of a waterfall. She sits up- rubbing the back of her head- and orients herself. She’s now in a cave-like area with massive crystal poking out of the stone walls everywhere, and piles of junk and garbage as far as she can see.

“Ahhh!” She springs to her feet, looking around wildly, and seeing _nothing_ familiar. Aaaah! AAAAHHH! What!? How!? Where!? Why?! Huh!?"

“Hey P! What'cha doin’ here?”

Pearl whirls around to the sound of her friend’s voice. “Oh Amethyst! Thank goodness it's you-” She stops abruptly, failing to comprehend why Amethyst’s skin is suddenly _purple_ , not to mention the fact that she seems to have bleached her hair even more than it already was, as it’s now just _white_. “…Why are you purple!?”

“Why do people keep asking me that today?” She crosses her arms, rolling her eyes at Pearl. “Why are you pale, and have a gem in your forehead?” She scoffs. “Way to call the kettle racist.”

“The phrase is ‘the pot calls the kettle black’and- Wait. _WHAT!?_ ” Pearl looks down at the pool of water she’s standing in, unable to believe the reflection of herself she sees, as it has snow white skin, no freckles, peachish pink hair that seems to be defying gravity to some extent, and a large white ovalular pearl right in the middle of her forehead. “Oh my god.” She shakes her head, gently running her hand over the pearl. “Thiiiiiiis can’t be happening. Nonononono. It can’t be. Can’t be. Nonononono.”

“P? P, calm down. It's gonna be O-K.” Amethyst takes a step towards her, but Pearl stumbles back, waving her arms in front of her.

“S-stay back! Don't come any closer!” Her gem flashes and a spiraled spear shoots out of it, Amethyst ducking under it just in time. Pearl just stares at the location the spear lands, before it disappears into sparkles. “…What!?”

“Okay, listen P. I know things are weird right now, but you _GOTTA_ trust me. Okay?” She walks slowly towards Pearl, grabbing her hands, and pulls her through the room and out of the temple, into the beach house.

"Pearl! Amethyst! Thank goodness you're back! I've been looking through some albums, and nothing makes sense! What the heck is this weird flower-moss stuff? When did we have a beach party with the Pizzas? When did I go to Keystone? More importantly, where the HECK is Keystone!?”

“Keystone?” Pearl immediately questions, Steven’s bizarre string of questions knocking her out of her terror somewhat. “That doesn't even make sense? There's no such place as Keystone!”

“Ugh.” Amethyst flops onto the couch with a groan. “It's just the next state over. Keystone, the keystone state.”

“…Do… Do you mean Pennsylvania?” Pearl asks slowly

Steven drops the book and darts over to her, looking hopeful. “PEARL.” He grins widely at her, bouncing on his toes. “Pearl, quick! Where do you think we are right now?”

She laughs nervously and glances around the room. "It… resembles the front room of my house, but the rug is some sort of platform… and a garbage filled cave seems to have replaced my storage closet.”

He chokes back a sob and hugs her tightly. “You remember!” He cries, not letting her go. “Thank goodness! Pearl, please, you gotta help me! Everything's gone _CRAZY_! Nobody remembers anything!”

“I…was standing on water before I fell into the garbage room. I'm with you on everything being bizarre.”

“That's not even the craziest thing- though that is _super_ crazy! Everything's all weird! I have a _GEM_ in my bellybutton!” He lifts his shirts, pointing at the vibrant pink gemstone where his navel should be.

Pearl sighs, and points at her forehead. "Still with you Steven. It's... peculiar."

“Uhhhh.” Amethyst sits up. “The only ‘peculiar’ thing is how both of you are acting. Why don't either of you remember anything? Why are you acting like all of this is weird? Of COURSE you have gems in you, you're both CRYSTAL GEMS. It's kinda our thing…” She pulls down on her shirt, better revealing the purple gemstone on her chest. She lets go of her shirt and sighs. “Oh, and what the hell is a Pencil-vania? Is that where the Pencil vampires live?”

Pearl scowls, turning towards Amethyst. “It's... It's one of the the neighbouring states. It's just west of here.” She shakes her head. “You know, Pennsylvania? It kind of looks like a flattened box-” She stops abruptly, stumbling backward and falling over in shock as a blue hologram image of the state of Pennsylvania projects from her gem. "Ah! W-w-what the heck was that!?"

“You think THAT'S weird?” Steven chuckles weakly. “Mine can make BUBBLES! Giant, indestructible, pink, bubbles!”

Pearl gets back to her feet frowning. “…What did you do to find out they were indestructible?”

“I.... MAY have been stuck in one for the past 20 minutes.”

Amethyst laughs. “Ohhhhh. So _that’s_ what all that noise was. I thought Garnet had accidentally let a monster into the house.”

“M-monster?” Pearl stammers. “I-is that something that happens regularly around here?"”

“Naaaah.” Amethyst shakes her head. “They don't normally make it THAT far. We usually take 'em out before they can even get close to a warp pad. You… You guys really don't remember anything, do you?”

Pearl and Steven share a look, not really sure how to answer that, since they both remember a lot of things, just nothing she’s saying.  

Amethyst sighs, and slaps her hand to her forehead. “Fiiiiiiine. I guess it's up to me. Where do you keep that dumb chalkboard anyways…” She gets to her feet, and starts to look around the house.

“It's at the barn.” Pearl says, then blinks several times, not sure where that particular piece of information came from.

“Yeah! I put it there when we…” Steven pauses, blinking several times. “Tried to… Go to… Space… Wha?"

“I mean,” Pearl frowns, shaking her head in disbelief. “I know I'm an aerospace engineer, and working for Nasa has always been a dream of mine, but that's… absurd.”

“Why would we try to build it in dad's barn?” Steven crosses his arms. “Isn't that place full of plane junk?”

“Well, I mean, in theory, it's a lot of the same parts, but going to space at all is absurd, I mean, we're hardly astronauts.” As if in response, her gem flashes and a blue jumpsuit with yellow detailing and a pink diamond emblem on the chest appears on her, replacing the clothes she was wearing. “AAAAA!”

Amethyst darts over, grinning. “Calm down P! You're starting to remember who you guys are! …I think. Maybe, uhhhhhh.” She pauses. “Wait, did you say you were an Aerospace Engineer? Isn't that a bit much? I mean you only… Have… A Master's. Wait what? How do I- Huh?” She shakes her head quickly. “How in the heck did I know that? What in the heck do I even know? That doesn't even make sense!”

Pearl gaps excitedly “Amethyst! You remember my degree! You're starting to remember who you are!”

“Whoah whoah whoah!” Amethyst shakes her head and crosses her arms. “That is NOT how this works Pearl, YOU guys are the ones who are supposed to remember who you are. 'Cause, last time I checked, I was Amethyst, a Crystal Gem, not some weirdo with mommy and daddy issues and WHY do I remember being adopted!?”

“Because you _WERE_ adopted. Your family moved to Beach city when we were in High School! What is a Crystal Gem? That sounds very redundant!”

"Your FACE is redundant!” Amethyst snaps, scowling. “I _CAN'T_ be adopted P! I was _MADE_ . In a wall! From the ground! I don't have parents! And neither do you! We're the Crystal Gems! We're from space! We fought against our own kind because they threatened Earth! _R-Right?_ ”

Pearl shares a wide-eyed look with Steven. “WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?”

Amethyst pulls at her hair, groaning. “I don't-” She kicks the coffee table. “I don't even know anymore! What has gotten INTO everyone today!? Arrgh! This all started after that STUPID slinker headbutted the Crystal Heart- Wait. That's it! THAT'S what's causing this! With that stupid quake and not even _Garnet_ knowing what was going on!”

“I-I still don't know what you're talking about.” Pearl stammers, and Steven quickly nods in agreement.

“Look,” Amethyst sighs. “How do I explain this? We're Gems. Not the stone, the _species_ . We are a bunch of sentient rocks that make bodies made of light with mass for ourselves so we can do stuff. We fight monsters because they threaten to hurt the Earth. We do this because that's the job Rose Quartz gave us before she gave up her physical form to have Steven. We did _NOT_ grow up in Beach city, and you are NOT an Aerospace Engineer with like 75% custody of Steven. And I am _DEFINITELY NOT_ remembering any other weird things! Got it?”

Pearl puts her head in her hands, letting out a slow breath. “That's... a lot to take in. You're saying we're aliens? Because as far as my memories say we're humans, leading ordinary lives, and nothing near that extraordinary.”

Steven grins excitedly, bouncing on his toes. "Does Pearl use her cool sword fighting skills to fight monsters?”

Pearl sighs. “Steven, I fence.” She crosses her arms. “That doesn't mean I would be able to fight alien monsters…”

Amethyst’s eyebrows shoot up, and she grins widely, suddenly struck by inspiration. “Hey Pearl!” She pulls out her whip and grabs onto a plate from the counter with it. “Think fast!” She flings the plate at Pearl, who catches in instinctively a split second before it would have it her.

Amethyst grins widely. “Could a fencer do _that_?”

“I-Uh-well-good hand eye coordination is- and I- … no.” She walks over and returns the plate to counter. “I have no idea how I reacted that swiftly.”

“THAT WAS SO COOL PEARL!”

“Her spear shoots lasers too.”

“She has a spear?! Ooo! Ooo! I want to see it!” He turns to Pearl, grinning wildly, and she's rather taken aback

“I-uh-umh, don't exactly know how. I can only assume it's like that strange whip…”

“Well, yeah. But every Gem summons their weapon differently. You always used to spout out some mumbo jumbo about finding the 'beauty in nature' or something. Give it a try.”

She blinks several times, and under the pressure from Steven's excited gaze, attempts it, doing little more than look uncomfortable as she strains her brow in concentration.

"Nonono! You're doing it wrong! Pearl, stop fighting all this! I get that you're scared, and I know this must be _REALLY_ weird, but if whatever version of me you remember is anything like the actual me, then you know you can trust me on this.” She smiles lazily at Pearl. “Don't think too hard about all this, just do what feels right.”

Pearl takes a deep breath and tries again, pulling out the spear, and utterly, _utterly_  terrifying herself in the process. “Aaaaa!” She immediately drops it in shock, and it dissipates into sparkles as it hits the ground.

Amethyst lets out a slow sighs. “It's gonna be looooooooong day.”


	4. Halfway Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven finds himself back in his original universe.

### Chapter 4

#### Halfway Home

“Hello Sadie!” Steven chirps, running into the big donut ahead of Pearl. “We wanted to ask you a few questions!”

Sadie chuckles. “Is this going to be more reasonable than randomly asking about Halloween?”

Steven pauses. “Yes and no?” He shrugs. “Same basis for the questions.”

Pearl sighs stepping up next to Steven with a notepad in hand, and Sadie blinks several times. “Hello Sadie.”

“Uhm. Hello Pearl. Don’t get you in here very often…”

“We’re not ordering anything.” She pauses, glancing down at Steven. “Well, Steven might, but I’m not.”

“These will probably seem odd, but we’re trying to figure something out!” Steven smiles at Sadie, who nods silently. “First question: Where do I live?”

Sadie blinks several times in confusion. “Uuuuh. Most of the time? With Pearl. At her house near the boardwalk. Sometimes you’re with your dad though.”

Pearl sighs. “What’s on the other side of the lighthouse cliff?”

“… Steven’s mom’s big manor house.” Sadie shakes her head. “I’m fairly sure you used to live there Pe-”

“Please, I know these questions must be strange, but I have to ask that you don’t question them.” Pearl mutters, jotting something down on her notepad. “What is my relationship to Steven?”

“You… you’re his godmother, right?”

Pearl nods. “Okay. And, say, what’s Garnet and Amethyst’s relationship to Steven?”

“Uuuuuhh. Family friend? Honorary aunt? I’m not really sure, though Steven comes in here with Garnet all the time.”

“I do!?” Steven grins widely. “Garnet comes to the Big Donut with me!?”

“…Yes.” Sadie frowns, her brow furrowed. “She comes here without you all the time too.” 

“… Interesting.” Pearl quickly jots something down. 

“She usually comes in right before her patrol.”

Steven laughs. “Oh right, I forgot Garnet was a cop! Oh, that is  _ such _ a stereotype.” 

Pearl rolls her eyes. “Okay.  _ Moving on _ . What State are we in?”

“… Maryland.” 

Steven cuts across, asking a random question. “What did I order here yesterday?” And, in a split second, before Sadie even has a chance to answer, Steven finds himself instantly in a different place. 

No longer is he standing in the Big Donut, assaulting his friend with questions. Now, he’s sitting on the couch in the temple, with Pearl and Amethyst sitting on either side of him.

He’s home!

Steven jumps to his feet grinning widely. “Yes! Yes! I’m back! Ha!” He turns back towards the couch, where Amethyst and Pearl are sitting; Amethyst leaning forward excitedly, and Pearl looking disheartened. “That was  _ crazy! _ ” 

“Steven? Like, you remember things and stuff!?” Amethyst grins at Steven.

“Yeah! We were like, in an alternate world where gems don't exist! It was so weird!” He bounces on his toes, and Amethyst jumps up to her feet. 

“Yes! Ha! This is great!” Amethyst hugs Steven quickly. “It was so  _ weird _ with you having like,  _ no _ memories.”

Pearl sighs, pulling her knees up to her chest. “I would give  _ anything _ to go back to my world…”

“Oh come on Pearl!” Steven sits down on the couch next to her. “You'll change back sooner or later. Besides, this world is awesome! Fighting monsters is WAY better than…” He pauses, his brow furrowed. “Uhhh... Drawing planes?”

“You're TWELVE!” Pearl screeches. “You shouldn't be fighting monsters!”

“…What does that first thing have to do with the second?” Steven asks, staring blankly at Pearl.

“…You… you're just a kid… I mean…” She twirls one of her hands in front of her, clearly struggling for words. “Steven the things I've been told… it all sounds so dangerous…”

“Oh come on.” Steven scoffs. “It's not  _ that _ bad. The only really dangerous thing was the time we were abducted into space.”

Pearl goes very stiff, her eyes widening. She twists in her seat, facing Steven, her hands braced on the coffee table “You- we- abducted- space-” She sputters incoherently for a moment. “WHAT!?”

“I-It's okay! We flew it back down to earth!” He laughs nervously. “…Well, crash landed onto the side of the cliff face, but who's splitting hairs!?”

After a moment, Pearl falls back into the couch, staring up at the ceiling. “… Oh dear god, I'm  _ so _ glad this isn't my universe.”

“Hey. Whatever floats your boat P.” Amethyst snickers, flopping back onto the couch. “I'm enjoying this life just fiiiiiiine.”

“…You” Pearl sits up straight, shaking her head. “…enjoy having your life threatened EVERY DAY?!” She throws her arms to the side and leans back into the couch cushion again. “I'd  _ much _ rather have my nice, normal, li-” She cuts herself off, and turns in her seat towards Steven. “Wait. What's wrong with designing airplanes, Steven? It's a great job!”

“Oh! N-Nothing!” He forces a smile, only  _ now _ realizing that he insulted her job. “It's just that, it sounds like it could get kinda tedious. I mean, we built an almost functioning spaceship in a week, and that felt like  _ forever _ . Drawing a plane over and over for your whole life...?”

She huffs, again relaxing into the couch. “It still seems farfetched that we would ever go to spa-” Her gem flashes, and her blue jumpsuit appears on her body again. “NOT THIS AGAIN.” She shouts, jumping to her feet. 

Steven laughs. “Hey, come on, lighten up Pearl. You talked yourself into it.”

Amethyst snorts. “Steven. This is Pearl.” She playfully punches Pearl’s side, and Pearl flinches away, grumbling about  _ ‘hating it when she does that’ _ . “I don't think she  _ can _ lighten up.”

“Amethyst!” Pearl groans, crossing her arms. “I can too ‘lighten up’!” She tightly grips her own arms, glaring pointedly past Amethyst. “You act like I’m not capable of having any fun.”

Steven grins. “See? Just like it always is! You're already fitting in great! Trust me Pearl, you'll do just fine.” He smiles up at her, and she relaxes, her arms dropping to her sides. “Well, at least until we can figure out how this works. Besides, you have me, Amethyst and Garnet to help you.”

Amethyst looks around the room, frowning, and pulls on Pearl’s hand to get her attention. “…Hey, P? Can I ask you a question?"

Pearl glances down at Amethyst, and sighs. “Of course Amethyst.” She says slowly, clearly slightly wary. “What is it?”

“Why are you whiter than usual? And where the heck are we? It kinda looks like your house, but your rug actually  _ is _ a teleporter pad or something. And the back wall looks like a cave.”

“…Oh dear.” Pearl turns away from Amethyst, putting her head in her hands.

“… Correction: You have me and Garnet to help you.” Steven chuckles, and flashes a smile at Amethyst. “Hello Amethyst.”

“Hey Steven.” She waves, then freezes seeing her own hand “Aaa! Why is my hand purple!?”

Pearl and Steven glance at each other, and sigh simultaneously. “Amethyst. This is gonna take  _ a lot _ of explaining." Steven smiles at her.

“Wait.” She lifts a hand, staring at it, and is silent for a moment. “Is  _ THIS _ what you were asking about before P? Like, asking why I wasn’t purple?” She shakes her head. “What the heck IS this?”

Pearl sighs, twirling back around towards Amethyst, weaving her fingers together. “That wasn't  _ me _ , exactly, but yes. I would assume that's what… she asked you about. This… It's some sort of alternate dimension.”

“ _ Ooooh _ . So _ that’s _ why you and Steven were acting all weird.” She flops onto the couch with a laugh. “Wait.” She sits up straight, frowning. “Are they planning to like, steal our lives or something?”

Steven rolls his eyes. “Why would someone want to steal a life as a…” He pauses, blinking several times. “-Fast food chain manager?” It takes him a moment to realize that he,  _ again, _ inadvertently insulted one of their jobs. “Oh! Uhhh, no offense.”

“Hey, none taken dude.” She slouches on the couch, throwing her feet up on the coffee table. “Wait. Are you the regular Steven too?”

“Uh. No. Wait, how are you defining regular?” Steven shakes his head. “You probably mean your regular. This in my universe. We switched back. I found that out while I was in the other world.”

“Oh. Okay.” She stretches with a yawn and lies back on the couch. “Hey, quick question.”

“Yeah?” Steven walks over and sits down by Amethyst’s feet.

“Why is Pearl dressed like a dork? I mean, more of a dork than usual.”

“Hey!” Pearl snaps, her arms raised and her hands clenched into shaking fists. “I didn't  _ choose _ this outfit.” She stomps her foot, and Amethyst snickers. “And if you  _ must _ know, it appears to be some kind of spacefaring garb. Though, the specific use escapes me, since there appears to be nothing in the way of life support built in.”

“Spacefaring?” Amethyst jolts up to sitting with a gasp- nearly hitting Steven in the face on accident. “Are we astronauts?”

“Aliens.” Pearl sighs, crossing her arms. “Apparently.”

“And what?” Amethyst snorts. “Our alien powers are weird colour coordination and built-in bling?” She adds, glancing down at the large gem embedded in her chest.

“Well, actually…” Steven beams at both of them. “You guys can shapeshift, summon weapons, have super strength, are almost indestructible, and don't need to eat, sleep, or breath.” He giggles. “You also all have really cool hair!”

“Pffft. That last one was true before all this craziness happened.”

“Oh, as if you'd call that bleach-damaged rat's nest a hairstyle!” Pearl scoffs. 

“Hey! I shower every other day. Weekends notwithstanding.”

“That doesn't change the fact that you don't bother tying it up at your job. In  _ food service _ .” 

“Hey, it isn't my fault hairnets can't handle the 'do.” She snickers. “Better than your hair. You just sort of gave up back in high school and cut it super short to avoid frizz.”

“I like my hair short! It looks good!” Pearl’s hands clench into fists, and she twirls to be facing away from Amethyst.

Steven sighs, smiling slightly. "Same old Amethyst and Pearl..."

The front door opens and Garnet walks in. Steven jumps to his feet and darts over to her. “Hi Garnet. I’m back! Though…” He glances over his shoulder at Amethyst and Pearls still bickering. “Uh. Amethyst is gone now.”

 

“How can you not know what CONDITIONER is!?” Pearl screeches at Amethyst, who rolls her eyes. 

“Ugh. I don't read labels! Who has time for that!?”

Pearl throws her arms to the side, groaning loudly. “MOST PEOPLE!”

After a moment Garnet responds. “…Is there a difference?”

“Not one that's readily visible.”

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“I’m  _ serious _ Pearl. Ronaldo is  _ crazier _ in this world.” 

Pearl shakes her head, her fingers weaved together on her lap. “No. No. I don’t think he’s the one who’s crazier, per say.” She lifts her hands, vaguely gesturing. “It’s just the extra… craziness to this world  _ fuels _ his crazy so it  _ seems _ crazier.”

“Are you losers really discussing Fryboy?” Amethyst asks, stepping out the temple door.

“I found his blog.” Steven says slowly. “It’s  _ Keep _ Beach City Weird here instead of  _ Prove _ Beach City Weird.”

“Whatever. Like I care about that loser.” She sits down on the couch. “All I know about him is that his dad makes good fries and he kidnapped you that one time because he thought you were a snake person.”

“Oh. Well I g-” The environment around him suddenly changes, and it takes him a moment to comprehend it.

“Well... After lamenting the death of Cookie Cat, just like every week, you decided to try and see if you could create the flavour of cosmopolitan ice cream by eating a vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry donut, all at once. You seriously don't remember?”

He blinks several times, Sadie’s words taking a few minutes to register. “Oh yeah, totally!” He laughs. “It actually worked pretty well! You should totally add that to the menu!”

“Steven?” Pearl puts her pen and notepad down on the counter and weaves her fingers together, staring down at him in concern. “Are… Are you okay?”

“Oh yeah Pearl, I'm fine, I just- Ohmygosh! I'm back!” He bounces on his toes, grinning, realizing that this  _ must _ be his own world. “Oh Sadie, it was so crazy! There was this huge temple with a rug that wasn't a rug, it was actually a teleporter. And everyone was made of stones that projected light, or something. And I'm so glad to be back!”

“Oh…” Pearl sighs, looking away. “You switched back.”

“Wait… You're the other Pearl!” Steven frowns at the floor. “Oh no! That means my Pearl is still in the other place. Oh gosh, I hope she's okay.”

Sadie looks between the two, visibly bewildered. 

“Uhhhhh... Lars? Any idea-” Sadie starts to ask Lars as he leaves the back room.

“NOPE! I'm on break.” He cuts her off, continuing to walk to the door. “You deal with the crazies. I'm out.”

“Hi Lars! I'm back!” Steven says cheerfully, waving at Lars.

“You left? The heck wasn't I informed?” He snorts. “I would've thrown a party!”

“Well I guess there was a different me here.” Steven shrugs, and Lars groans, putting his face in his hand.

“Of course there was Steven. Yeah. On break. I’ll be back in like… twenty minutes. Thanks Sadie!” He goes out the door, and Sadie groans, hitting her head on the counter. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, Steven's birthday week. Canon. Argh. Well, Steven's age stays as I've already written it. I don't feel like editing.


	5. A Friends and Family Affair

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An unexpected friend switches, and no one had bothered to tell her this was happening.

### Chapter 5

#### A Friends and Family Affair

Connie finishes cleaning her violin bow and sits it down, closing her eyes contently. She opens them again and glances down at her watch. “Hah. Twenty whole minutes of free time I just created for myself…” She looks up, and blinks several times. “Huh.” She looks around the room. “Wasn’t I… Wasn’t I sitting on the other side of the couch?” Not about to worry on something so trivial, she shrugs it off and rises to her feet, walking out the front door, and freezing dead just outside of it, something hitting her immediately as  _ very _ wrong, but the first thing that actually manages to register in her mind is Pearl and Amethyst standing on the lawn next door and yelling at each other.

Then, it finally hits her that she’s in Beach City. 

Her house is in Beach City.

What.

“WHY IS MY HOUSE SUDDENLY IN BEACH CITY!?” She screams to the sky, shaking, and taking quick shallow breaths.  

The arguing next door stops immediately, and Pearl and Amethyst dart over to her. 

And they look  _ weird _ . 

Neither of them have their gems. Amethyst is latina with bleached blonde hair, and Pearl’s skin, while still pale, actually has colour to it, with a smattering of freckles, and she’s a redhead. 

“Connie!” Pearl squeaks. “Please calm down.”

“Yeah, no need to scream at the sky.” Amethyst shrugs. 

Connie sputters “Why do you guys look like that?” She vaguely gestures at the two not-gems, and Pearl sighs. “What the heck is going on!? Is this some weird Gem thing?”

“Yes, Connie.” Pearl says softly, weaving her fingers together and staring at the ground. “ _ Please _ , just calm down.”

“Calm down!? You want me to calm down!?” Connie screeches “My house  _ TELEPORTED _ , Pearl!” She throws her arms vaguely towards the general direction of her house, breathing heavily. “It  _ teleported! _ ”

Amethyst snickers, seeming very relaxed. “Nah.” She shakes her head, though Connie is  _ not _ amused by how relaxed she is. “We're in a different dimension.”

Connie blinks several times, just…  _ staring _ at Pearl and Amethyst in absolute silence for a good solid minute. “…A DIFFERENT DIMENSION!?” She screams, pulling on her hair. “How!? When!? WHY!?”

Connie’s mom pokes her head out the door. “Connie, are you okay?”

“Uhhhh.” Connie glances over at her mom. “Yes mom! I'm just…” She hesitates, quickly coming up with a lie. “-Trying out a speech for a creative public speaking contest! The theme is 'Girl is utterly confused and terrified.”

“Oh. Well it sounds wonderful then!”

“T-Thank you!”

Dr. Maheswaran goes back inside, and after the door closes, Pearl lets out a sigh. “We… we think that it was caused by a corrupted gem crashing into the Crystal Heart.” She crosses her arms, still staring pointedly at the ground. “Our minds seem to be switching with our alternates from this world.”

“Oh.” Connie frowns. “Well, what's the deal with this world?” She crosses her arms. “Is it some kind of twisted perversion of our reality? With pale facsimiles of our life back home? Are we doomed to fight for our lives against the misshapen shadows of the life we knew!?” He voice steadily rises in pitch as she begins to panic again.

“Woah. Woah.” Amethyst waves her hands down, shaking her head. “Slow down! Yeah, we seem to have vague mirrors of our lives- though there are no gems here, so everyone is human-  _ lame- _ but we're figuring it out. Don't have a panic attack.”

“Wait…” Connie frowns. “So  _ our _ world is the crazy one, and this one is super normal?”

“Yeah.” Amethyst chuckles. “What, did you think this one had even  _ scarier _ monsters than our world?”

“N-No.” Connie stammers, her face flushing. “I just… Didn't expect to still need to get to violin practice in-” She glances at her watch. “Ten minutes. So... What do you guys do in this world?”

Pearl scowls, and crosses her arms, tightly holding onto her elbows. “I design airplanes. And they aren't even  _ good _ designs.” She stares up at the sky. “I mean, I would have thought, if I was a human, I would  _ at least  _ work for NASA.” She sighs, uncrossing her arms. 

Amethyst is silent for a moment. “… I'm a fast food manager.”

“Well, I mean, designing planes still sounds like a really good j-” Connie stops and turns to Amethyst. “Seriously? You? A  _ manager _ ?” She shakes her head. “No offence, but how?”

Pearl chuckles. “I was surprised too. She got to manager by working at the same place since High School.”

“Apparently I was the person with the most job experience in 500 miles!” Amethyst laughs. “Or the other me was, I guess.”

“Oh.” Connie laughs lightly. “Okay, that makes sense.” She glances at the house Amethyst and Pearl were arguing in front of. “Why were you two arguing here?”

Amethyst nods her head at the house. “P lives here.”

“Me and Steven are neighbours in this universe?” She beams. “Cool! No more awkward hour-long car rides with my dad to hang out. Bright side!”

“Hey! Way to just assume Steven lives wi-” Amethyst breaks down laughing, leaning forward on her knees. "Nope. Can't get through it with a straight face.  _ Of course _ Steven lives with Pearl."

“Well, it's not  _ my _ fault you're nowhere  _ near _ a responsible moral guardian in either universe.” Pearl rolls her eyes at Amethyst, crossing her arms.

“I think you messed up the word 'Awesome' there, P.” Amethyst elbows Pearl, and Pearl takes a step away, glowering down at Amethyst. 

“Don't treat your reckless abandon like it's a GOOD thing!”

Amethyst snorts, crossing her arms. “Better than being a stick in the mud."

“Aaand now they're back to arguing…” Connie sighs, crossing her arms. 

“Connie!” Dr. Maheswaran pokes her head outside.  “Time for violin practice!”

Connie glances over her shoulder. “Coming.” She looks to the bickering pair. “See you guys later, I guess.”

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Connie turns her violin bow over in her hands, satisfied that it’s clean, and closes her eyes contently. She opens them again, and checks her watch. “Niiice. A whole half an hour before practice and I’m all ready. Maybe I can hang out with Steven…” She puts the bow away and springs to her feet, walking out the front door.

Then freezing immediately. 

This  _ isn’t _ Beach City. 

After a solid minute of standing just outside her house, she bolts back inside and pulls out her phone, not sure who she’s calling until she hits Steven’s name in her contact list. 

She calls him immediately. “Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!”

“Uuuuh. Hi Connie?”

“Steven! Everything is weird! M-my house is like… in a completely different place! A-and you’re not my neighbor, and I’m  _ seriously _ freaking out here Steven. Houses don’t just  _ teleport! _ ” 

“Woah. Woah. Woah. Connie, calm down.” Steven responds calmly through the phone. “Did you say that you think I'm supposed to be your neighbor?”

“Yes! And now you're not! And my house is in a completely different town! I thought you were  _ JOKING _ when you said 'the world's broken'.” She puts the hand that’s not holding her phone over her mouth, breathing heavily in her panic. “This- this is crazy!”

“Okay! So you are  _ definitely _ the other Connie.” Steven says, with no explanation of what he’s talking about. “Can you have your dad drive you to Beach City?”

“Uh, I think so, hang on.” She lowers the phone. “DAD! Can I go to Steven's house?”

“Sure thing, just remember that curfew is 9 o'clock. And bring your Violin, you still need to practice!”

“Well, that hasn't changed.” She puts her phone back to her ear. “Yeah, I'll be over in… however long the drive would normally take.”

“About an hour. I'll be waiting.”

“Th-thanks Steven.” She sighs. “You'd better have some answers when I get there though, because I'm kinda having a breakdown here.”

After an awkward hour long car ride with her dad, with Connie desperately trying to hide how  _ freaked _ she is, she gets to Beach city, her dad pulling up to a giant statue with a little house in it on the beach where Rose’s Manor is supposed to be. 

She climbs out of the car slowly- her violin case in hand- just staring in wonder at the statue. “Thanks for the ride dad…” 

“Will Steven’s father be driving you home?”

Connie glances over her shoulder. “Oh. Uh, probably. If not, I’ll call you.”

He nods and pulls away. 

Connie takes a deep breath and climbs the stairs to the small house, though the door is opened before she can knock, Steven beaming at her from the other side.

“Hey Connie!”

“Hi Steven…” Connie steps inside, then pauses, looking around the room. “Okay. This looks almost  _ exactly _ like the front room of Pearl’s house.”

“Doesn’t it…” Pearl- but with pure white skin, peachy-pink hair that seems to defy gravity to some extent, and a large white stone in her forehead- murmurs from where she’s sitting on the couch, with her knees pulled up to her chest. She smiles at Connie. “Hello Connie.”

“Uuuuuh. Hi Pearl.” She forces a smile. “You look… different.” 

“Oh. Uh, yeah.” Steven grabs Connie’s hand and pulls her over to the couch to sit down. “This is totally crazy but, uhm.” He bites his lip. “There are two different universes involved. This one, and the one you’re from.”

“… You expect me to believe I’m in an alternate universe?”

“Your  _ mind _ is in an alternate universe. See, it’s minds that switch.” Steven smiles. “In your world everyone is human-”

“Well what else would they be!?” Connie cuts across Steven. “Magic Aliens!?”

Steven grins. “Yes! That exactly!” He smiles sheepishly at her incredulous expression. “I… Should probably explain. See, in this world, Pearl, Garnet, Amethyst, and my Mom are-slash-were this magical alien species called gems.” He pauses, pulling up his shirt to reveal a large vibrant pink gemstone in place of his navel. “And I’m half-gem! We have magic powers and we protect humanity.”

“I… don’t even know what to say to that.” Connie says slowly. “Other than maybe asking why no one bothered to tell me this was happening?”

“I…” Steven laughs nervously. “I thought it was just a Gem thing. Sorry!”

“What would possibly indicate that?” Connie crosses her arms, staring hard at Steven.

“Well, weird stuff always seems to happen to us specifically. Well, and the people immediately around us…” He pauses, forcing a smile. “…Which I guess makes this a moot point, huh?”

Connie glowers at him, her hand clenched, just utterly fuming.

“Well… I-I mean, I just got back… like yesterday, so it’s not like I had time to tell the version of you from this universe, and the other me probably had no time to tell you either?” Steven says this like a question, smiling nervously at Connie.

“We're  _ NEIGHBOURS _ ! I can see you from my window!” She huffs. “If  _ you _ were in my universe, you should have told me.” 

“Well... I mean, yeah, but you didn't know about ANY gem stuff, so yeah.” He rubs the back of his head. “Because... like, that world doesn't have gems.”

“Steven, I'm your best friend. And you're my only friend. I can't speak for her, but I would've at least listened to you if you had something like  _ this _ to tell me.” She stops, her face flooding with colour. “Oh what am I doing? It's not  _ your _ fault, it's the other Steven’s for not telling  _ me _ .” She shakes her head. “But you really should have told your Connie!”

“…Well… I mean, I  _ could _ have told you, actually… Remember when me and Pearl asked you a bunch of questions about our friendship?” He forces a laugh. “We were trying to figure out differences.”

“Oh. I thought you were settling an argument or something. You've been dealing with this for  _ that long? _ That was like… almost a week ago.”

“…Yeah.” Steven sighs. “I was the first one who switched. It was  _ really _ confusing.”

“Well, at least we can be confused together now, right?”

Steven laughs, a genuine smile on his face now. “Yeah.”

Connie smiles back.


	6. Split Switch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garnet switches, to strange results.

### Chapter 6

#### Split Switch

The sewer tunnel is very dark, but something like that isn’t a problem for Garnet as she prowls through it, looking for signs of the slinker. 

She sighs, beginning to lose hope at finding the creature when, quite suddenly after a strange noise down a far corridor, her field of vision… narrows, much to her confusion. She takes off her visor. “Did… did the room just get  _ narrower _ ?” She reaches up and touches her forehead, finding, as she expected, her third eye absent. She lets out a slow sigh and makes her way out of the sewer, not even giving a second thought as to why her alternate was there. 

She climbs out of the sewer, causally pushing the cover out of the way as she does so. “Allright, now to find the other gems.”

“Hey Garnet! What were you doing down there?” 

Garnet glances over at Amethyst, who’s reclining in a lawn chair not ten feet away.

“…Well, that was easy.” Garnet says flatly, returning the manhole cover to its place. She walks over to Amethyst. “Where’s Pearl?”

“HEY! P!” Amethyst shouts over her shoulder at the house behind her. “GARNET WANTS YOU!”

After a moment the door opens to reveal a very irate Pearl. She storms over to Amethyst, her hands clenched into shaking fists at her sides. “And you can't have  _ walked up to the door _ and  _ knocked _ like a normal person, rather than shouting and disturbing the entire neighborhood?”

“Pfft.” Amethyst snorts, leaning back in the lawn chair. “Why walk all the way over there when you have chords of steel? ‘Sides, I’m comfortable.”

“Stop fighting.”

Pearl goes very stiff, then whirls to face Garnet. “ _ …Garnet _ ?” She shakes her head, her hands raised near her face, and she looks hesitant. “Like...  _ our _ Garnet?”

“Accept no imitations.”

“Oh no!” She claps her hands together, biting her lip. “That means Steven is all by himself!”

“Don't worry P, I'm sure he'll be fine!” Amethyst puts her hand behind her head. “What's the worst that could happen?” She shrugs. “We already filled our weekly quota of monsters beaten up, it's not like he's in any immediate danger.”

“The other us will take care of him.” Garnet crosses her arms. “The other you seems just as protective of him.” 

“…I guess, but…” She twists her hands, staring at the ground. “What if something happened?!”

“Pffft, like what?” Amethyst snorts, sitting up straight. “It's not like us gems randomly switching brains is  _ DANGEROUS _ .” She stands up, gently patting Pearl’s side. “I mean, who could switch places to make our lives harder? It's not like anyone's holding the world together…” Amethyst trails off, frowning.  “Oh…”

“Wait…” Pearl flails her hands in the air, her eyes going wide as she rapidly shakes her head.  “Y-You don't think…” 

Garnet is silent for a moment. “This is obviously affecting gems and people closely associated with them.” She uncrosses her arms. “We can't discount the possibility that it might affect the Homeworlders as well.”

“No, no, no, no…” Pearl shakes her head, and hides her face in her hands. “What if Lapis or Jasper switched!? What would happen to Malachite!? And Steven is there by all by himself!”

“Calm down Pearl.” She puts a hand on Pearl’s shoulder, and Pearl looks up at Garnet, her eyes shining “That's a worst case scenario. If Jasper switches, Lapis can handle her. If Lapis switches, Jasper will be too confused as to where in the ocean she is to be much of a danger, at least for a while.”

“I-I suppose.” She stammers, her hands falling to her sides. “But I don't like this at all.”

“Pfft.” Amethyst snickers. “You don't like being here in general because you have to do human things. Like sleep. And eat.”

“Well pardon me if I find human bodily functions disturbing!” Pearl screeches at Amethyst, stomping her foot.  “I've had to muscle down food for the last six days, and I quickly learned about the… inner workings of the human function of involuntary vomiting.” She hugs herself, shuddering slightly with her eyes shut tightly. “It’s so uncomfortable…”

“You have a problem Pearl.” Amethyst rolls her eyes. “Eating is awesome."

“I said to stop fighting.”

Pearl opens her eyes, staring at Garnet for a moment before speaking, her voice high pitched and shaking slightly. “Well, what are we  _ supposed _ to do, Garnet? Just wait for things to take their course?”

“That's all we  _ can _ do right now.” She puts a hand on the top of Pearl’s head, gently trying to calm the anxious human-gem. “The least we can do is try not to let our anxiety get the best of us.”

“…Well…” She lets out a shaky sigh. “I suppose… But I still don't like it.”

“You don’t have to like it. You just have to live with it.”

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There doesn’t actually seem to be anything in this section of the sewers, though a number of people have reported loud banging noises from this area below their houses. 

She sighs, and makes her way back out of the sewer. Disappointed at the utter waste of her time, Garnet goes to the Big Donut, hoping to sate her frustration on cheap confectionaries. 

“Hey guys.” She leans on the counter, and- much to her confusion- receives an astonished look from Sadie. 

“Uuuh. Hello Garnet. Surprised to see you here without Steven.”

Garnet chuckles. “Now, I don’t  _ always _ come here with him.”

“Uhm.” Sadie glances over at Lars, who shrugs. 

“Hey, you guys finally fixed the lightbulb in the ceiling…”

“Uhm. Uh, yeah we just got it replaced yesterday-” 

“Wait, how did I see that?” She raises her hand over her forehead, noticing that her vertical sight is very wide. “Wait…What?” She takes off her visor, and looks at her reflection in the glass of one of the freezers, seeing a third eye in the middle of her forehead.

She screams, just staring wide-eyed at her reflection for a few minutes. 

There’s a flash of light and she splits apart into two people, who sit on the floor in stunned silence for another agonizing few minutes, before slowly looking at each other, and screaming. 

“Sapphire! You actually exist!” 

“So do you!” 

Sadie sighs, pulling her phone out. “Hey Steven. Uh, Garnet split into two smaller gems and they’re kind of freaking out.” She pauses. “Yeah. Okay. See you in a few Steven.”

The two small gems continue to have their independent conniptions, Ruby talking nonstop in a hushed, panicked voice to Sapphire, who is sitting with her fingers weaved together, and muttering in a flat monotone under her breath.

After a few minutes of that, Steven walks in, and beelines to the small gems.

“Ruby! Sapphire!” 

“Steven!” The two say simultaneously. Sapphire smiles slightly. “Nice to finally meet you ‘in person;’. No matter how strange this is.”

“Uhm.” Steven blinks several times. “Let’s go to the temple, okay guys?” He glances at Sadie and Lars. “Sorry for the trouble. Weird stuff is going on right now. I’ll tell you all about it once things stop being so crazy.” Steven leads the two out of the Big Donut.

“Steven. Why are we going around Lighthouse Park?” Ruby asks, walking next to Steven, Sapphire on his other side. “Your mom’s house is the only thing over there.”

“Huh? Oh. uhm.” Steven frowns. “Sorry, I’m… still trying to figure out how you two exist in the other world.”

“I’m trying to figure out how we exist too, Steven!”

“What do you mean by ‘other world’?” Sapphire crosses her arms, frowning. 

“Oh, Well, you see, uhm, that’s the thing, there are two universes involved here, and minds are switching between them.” Steven chuckles nervously.

“So… What?” Ruby shakes her head. “Are you telling me we’re in an alternate universe where we… actually  _ exist _ ?”

“Uh, yeah, I was actually wondering, what are you in the other world?”

“Garnet’s imaginary friends.” Sapphire uncrosses her arms. “We’ve been with her for a long time.”

Steven stops. “Huh. Well, welcome to the temple. This is where we live in this world.”

“Woah.” Ruby slowly climbs the stairs ahead of Steven. 

“Uhm.” Steven darts after her. “The front room looks a lot like Pearl’s house! So don’t be alarmed. Pearl and Amethyst are both also switched, so it’s actually the Pearl and Amethyst you know, even though they look different!”

“This is just so  _ weird _ . All of it.” Ruby mutters, walking in through the front door, with Steven and Sapphire trailing behind. 

Pearl freezes in surprise and falls off the couch as the small group walks in, and Amethyst is staring dumbfounded. 

“Hey guys.” Steven smiles at the two stunned gems “Garnet switched.”

Pearl slowly rises to her feet, her hands weaved together. “I can’t believe my eyes.” She shakes her head. “Even after  _ everything _ I’ve already seen, I can’t believe this.” She squeezes her hands together tightly. “Magically changing clothes, monster attacks, a weapon coming out of my head,  _ everything _ , but…” She closes her eyes, shaking her head. “Ruby and Sapphire? They’re  _ real _ ?”

Ruby sticks her tongue out at Pearl. “And you doubted us.”

Amethyst sighs, shaking her head in disbelief. “Sheesh.” She laughs breathlessly. “I guess I stand corrected. So, wait, all those times Garnet went and stopped me from 'Recklessly endangering' myself?”

Sapphire smiles. “I told her I had a feeling you would do something stupid.”

Amethyst scoffs, crossing her arms. “Well, what'd you have against me having fun all these years?!”

Ruby laughs, throwing an arm around Sapphire’s shoulders. “Because ruining your fun  _ was _ our fun. You don't exactly get to do much when you're quasi-real.” She shrugs. “I mean, Steven talked to us, but those conversations were all pretty one sided.”

Amethyst purses her lips, silent for a moment. “…Touche.”

Pearl runs her hands through her hair, sighing. “Wait.” She drops her hands, looking between the two small gems. “If you two are here, then where's Garnet?”

Ruby and Sapphire stare at each other, the room going dead silent. After a moment, they simultaneously scream. “Aaaaaaaaah!”

“She's gone!” Ruby yells, the ground under her feet beginning to smoke. “She's gone! Ohgodohgodohgod.”

Steven snickers. “Duh. You guys ARE Garnet. Calm down.” He pauses. “Seriously, Ruby, you’re going to start a fire.”  

Ruby glances down at her feet, and scowls. “What the heck!?” She shakes herself, and looks back at Steven. “That is  _ super _ not how that works, Steven!”

“No, really.” Steven laughs. “You guys fuse together into Garnet.”

“…The HECK does "fuse" mean?” Ruby crosses her arms, staring hard at Steven. 

“Well… uhm. You… form an amalgam…” Steven stops, blinking several times. “Who am I kidding. I can't remember Pearl's explanation.” He sighs. “You mash into one giant woman by dancing!”

“Dancing?” Ruby questions, glancing at Sapphire. 

Steven shrugs. “Well, usually, when it's other gems. When Garnet re-fused, it was done with you two laughing and hugging each other and acting in a way that makes me feel vaguely uncomfortable, like I was walking in on something.”

Ruby and Sapphire look at each other, and both of their faces flood with colour.

“Wait…” Amethyst shakes her head slowly. “Are Garnet's imaginary friends…  _ Dating _ ?”

“Gah!” Pearl hides her face in her hands. “Why did you say that!? Now  _ I’m _ thinking about it. Ignore the implications, ignore the implications, ignore the implications…” 

“…Garnet is fused all the time  _ because _ of how much Ruby and Sapphire love each other.” Steven says slowly, looking between Amethyst and Pearl.

“…Yeah…” Amethyst frowns. “That still doesn't make this less weird.”

“WHY ARE THERE SO MANY IMPLICATIONS!?!” Pearl screams, running her hands through her hair. 

Ruby chuckles, and holds out a hand to Sapphire. “Sooooo… May I have this dance?”

Sapphire is silent for a moment, then grins at Ruby. “I thought you'd never ask.”  She takes Ruby’s offered hand, and reaches forward to grab the other hand, and they twirl into each other's arms, laughing and hugging before reforming into Garnet.

Garnet grins at Amethyst and Pearl. “…Both of you two owe me ten bucks.”

Pearl blinks several times, her arms dropping to her side. “We made that bet in  _ High School _ !” She shakes her head. “I never thought you'd give tangible proof your imaginary friends exist!”

“Well, now I'd like tangible proof your wallets exist.”

Amethyst gestures down at her clothing. “Do you  _ SEE _ any pockets in this get-up?”

Steven looks at the three, and lets out a sigh. “Can this wait?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ima spam a bunch of chapters in this today. I just sorta remembered that I still needed to post them, so I'm probably just going to post them all now.


	7. KBCW Interlude: Last Thursdayism

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> KBCW Interlude: Last Thursdayism

### KBCW

#### Last Thursdayism

There’s a new post on Keep Beach City Weird. It’s a video. The video’s thumbnail is just an image of Peedee and Ronaldo sitting on a couch. 

The video plays.

 

Ronaldo is crouched behind his couch, and only the top half of his face is visible. “This is a Keep Beach City Weird Production.” He says in an over the top voice, before standing up and walking around the couch and sitting down. “Hello, believers of the weird. I'm Ronaldo Fryman, and I'm about to BLOW YOUR MIND.” He clasps his hands together and looks seriously at the camera. “Now, I'm sure all you connoisseurs of weird out there have noticed some bizarre dimensional shifting going on.”

“Hey Ronaldo.” Peedee walks on camera, and glance at it before sitting down on the couch next to his brother. “Are you making something for your blog?”

“It's weird time Peedee!” Ronaldo shouts, glaring at his brother.

“Oh, is it five o'clock already?” 

“Yes!” Ronaldo gestures towards the camera. “And that means,  _ as per our agreement _ , which  _ you _ signed, I have the living room for the next hour!”

“Sorry!” Peedee throws his hands up defensively, and glances at the camera. “So… What's this one about?”

“The Universe as we know it is a lie!” Ronaldo wiggles his finger at Peedee, the freezes, glancing at the camera. “Wait! NO! Peedee, you just made me spoil it! I was going to do this big build up and everything!”

“Oh geeze.” Peedee glances at the Camera. “Sorry man. Can't you just start again?”

“Peedee, you KNOW I don't know how the rewind function works on the video recorder.”

Peedee sighs. “I keep telling you, it's the black arrow that points left!”

“And I keep telling YOU I'm bad at shapes, colours, and directions!”

“Ugh.” Peedee rolls his eyes. “Just get on with your video.”

“Well.” Ronaldo clears his throat. “As I was saying: There have been bizarre dimensional shifts, and I believe that our universe is interacting with a similar, less weird universe.”

“Interacting how?” Peedee asks, his expression making it clear that he’s just humoring his brother. 

“Well, I'm glad you asked!” Ronaldo clasps his hands together. “Just last Tuesday, I went down to the beach to re-examine those strange holes in the cliff face, only to find that, after a series of strange quakes, they were gone!”

“I thought those holes were caused by Steven's family?” Peedee crosses his arms, staring at his older brother with raised eyebrows. 

“Okay, so yeah. Whatever.” Ronaldo scowls. “I was bored and wanted an excuse to leave for my break, but the point is that I encountered a dimensional disturbance!” He picks up a few pictures off the coffee table and shoves them in Peedee’s face. “Look at these pictures Peedee! What do you see?” He points the picture towards the camera, and it’s a photo of a blank cliff face.

“Uhhh…” Peedee frowns. “Nothing?” 

“Exactly!” Ronaldo grins. “Nothing! There  _ SHOULD _ be holes there!”

“Are you sure you were looking in the right spot?” Peedee asks, his eyebrows raised.

“Wh- YES!” Ronaldo scowls, glaring at his little brother. “Peedee, don't you get it? This means that, for a brief period, our universe collided with a universe that didn't have the holes!”

“Okaaaaay… And how does this mean the universe as we know it is a lie?”

“Because universes don't just exist Peedee. Duh.” He rolls his eyes, and, in a very patronizing way, pats Peedee’s head. “Obviously one of the universes is actually a pale shadow of the original, that's just basic weird science.”

“Uh huh.” Peedee scoots away from his brother a bit, and stares at him disbelievingly. 

“And I believe that, due to the increased weirdness levels in our universe, that  _ WE _ are the shadow, made weirder than our original by the process of creation!” He lifts a finger. “Not only that, but as the anomalies only recently started appearing, I believe we only recently began to exist.” 

“You…” Peedee shakes his head. “You're kidding, right?”

“Come on Peedee! Open your eyes!” Ronaldo throws his arms out to the side. “If the world isn't brand new, then how did I get this sandwich?” He grabs a sandwich from out of sight and holds it up in front of the camera.

“…You made it.”

“Yes. In the past.” He sets it down, grinning. “The past that NEVER EXISTED!”

“But I  _ saw _ you make it.”

“That's exactly what the universe WANTS you to think!”

“Uhhh…” Peedee shakes his head. “Not that I'm a 'weird scientist' or whatever, but wouldn't it make more sense that the ‘normal’ universe is the new one?”

“Of course not Peedee! Why would not-weird be new!?”

“Because, like…” He gestures vaguely. “If a universe were somehow copied, wouldn't it miss some details?” He sighs. “Like a copier that's set to black and white only?”

“Oh poor  _ ignorant _ Peedee.” Ronaldo tuts, shaking his head. “You just don't understand weird science the way I do.”

“…Sure Ronaldo, let's go with that explanation.” He sighs. “Now, if you don't mind, whether or not the past is fake, my future is going to really suck if I don't get back to work real soon.” He stands up. “So good luck with your blog.”

“Ugh.” Ronaldo groans. “My video got totally derailed explaining it to you.”

Peedee hesitates while leaving. “…Wouldn't your explanation to me explain it just as well to your followers?”

“Oh! I know!” Ronaldo claps his hands together. “I'll just post my explanation of it to you!”

“That's what I just sa-”

“This has been a Keep Beach City Weird Production by Ronaldo Fryman, guest starring Peedee Fryman. See you next weird folks.”


	8. Dimensional Glitch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peridot switches

### Chapter 7

#### Dimensional Glitch

Peridot walks slowly through the dusty Kindergarten, making her way to the Prime Kindergarten Control Room, reviewing her last several log entries before she saves them to the computer in the Control Room.

“Log date six-zero-two…” She murmurs rereading her log from yesterday. “I continue to be stuck on this stupid planet, left stranded here by the efforts of the Steven, the fusion, the Amethyst and the pearl who's particularly abrasive personality-” Her surroundings suddenly and drastically shift, and she finds herself sitting at a desk, reading a small journal,  the writing penned in neat print. “-I can't get out of my head, nor her eyes, which…” She slows down in her reading. “…are the most piercing… blue?” She stops, shaking her head quickly. “Wait, what? Who wrote this!?” She looks wildly around the room, with it’s dull green walls, void of decoration and the only furniture being the desk and chair she’s currently sitting at, and a very utilitarian twin bed in the corner that has lime green sheets, her eyes wide. “WHERE AM I!?!” She shouts, her face bright red, most definitely in response to the sudden shift in surroundings, and nothing else whatsoever. 

She rises to her feet unsteadily, and tries to walk out of the room, but stumbles, falling to the ground several times on her way out, for reasons that she is unable to discern.

Struggling all the way to even stay upright Peridot makes it out of the small apartment building she was in, and finds herself standing in the city near the Crystal Clods base. 

“Why by the Diamonds am I  _ here!? _ ” She wanders a bit, just trying to puzzle this all out, whilst trying to remain inconspicuous to the surrounding humans, but gets so fed up with how difficult it is to walk, that she stops, and sits down on a bench in Dewey Park. “What is  _ wrong  _ with my Limb Enhancers!?” She pulls up her pant leg- internally questioning why her clothing is different at all, but stays focused on her current task. “It must be some sort of malfunction…” She gets it rolled all the way up, and is immediately shocked to find that, instead of the sleek, futuristic leg enhancement she is used to, she is now wearing a crude metal tube, roughly the dimensions of a normal leg. “Is- Is this a spring loaded axle joint???” She shakes her head. “These aren't limb enhancers, they're tubes with heels! Why would anyone wear these?” She fiddles with it, and the leg pops off, revealing a bare stump where her leg  _ should _ be. “…Oh. That's…” She takes a deep, shaking breath, her head spinning. She puts her face in her hands, nearly hyperventilating. “Why don’t I have legs? Why is my chest burning like this? Oh great Diamonds, what is going on!?”

After a seemingly endless amount of time spent sitting on the park bench in utter panic and confusion, someone sits down next to Peridot, and she looks towards them- and is utterly startled to see the familiar blue haired countenance of Lapis Lazuli, though her skin has inexplicably become a light brown colour.

“YOU!?” She screeches breathlessly. “How!? How did you survive?”

“…Survive what?” Lapis asks slowly. “The trip to the coffee shop? You'd think traffic would be murder at this hour, but I'm fairly certain this town has less than two dozen people in it.” She pauses, her brow furrowed. “Are you alright? You’re acting even weirder than usual.”

“…I don't have legs.” She murmurs, still breathless.

“Well- I mean- Yeah?” Lapis bites her lip, looking mildly freaked. “But that's, like…” She shakes her head. “Oh geeze- umm...  _ Sorry _ ? I meant are you, like, feeling okay? Did something happen?”

“…I don't. Have legs.”

“Okay geeze, wow, um, Peridot?” Lapis frowns, her brow furrow. “You're kinda making me feel like a jerk here. Am I offending you somehow? Did I say something wrong?”

“Why would you feel bad? Did  _ YOU _ do this to me!? Is this some kind of sick revenge for leaving you on the ship to die?”

"Peridot, the heck is going on? Did Jasper slip something into your coffee?” Lapis reaches out to grab Peridot’s shoulder, but Peridot flinches back.

“Ah! Don't touch me!” She extends her hand in a fist willing her plasma cannon to appear, and nothing happens. After a moment she stares at her hand -which, she now realizes, is made up of digits attached to the main forearm-, and sighs, dropping it. “Why is my skin this peach tone…”

“…Uhm… Was that supposed to do something?” She pauses. “And because you’re white? Peridot? Did you take a hit to the head?”

“Aaaaggghhh! Nothing makes sense!” She groans, hiding her face. “Am… am I  _ human _ !?”

“Uhhh. Yes? What else would you be?” Lapis shakes her head. “God, you’re being extra weird.”

“If you can’t answer why I don’t have legs, could you explain why my chest hurts so much!?” Peridot gasps, turning her panicked gaze to Lapis. 

“You need to breathe Peridot.” Lapis rolls her eyes. “You, as you yourself would say ‘seem to be lacking oxygen’.” She shakes her head. “What is going on with you?”

“Oh! Do humans have some sort of oxygen interface module?” She takes a deep breath, and several more, waiting for her head to clear. “Oh. Yes. That is much better. Humans are so odd!”

“Uh. Okaaaaaay Peridot. Okay.”

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Peridot sits down at her desk, opening her journal to look over the entry from yesterday. She was half  asleep when she wrote it, so it probably descended into meaningless prattle about Pearl. She sighs.

“Why am I so hung up on her…” Peridot clenches her hands into fists, and steels herself to review her drowsy ramblings. “Pearl continues to be annoying, her engineering skill supposedly exceeding mine-” She sighs. “Joy. Starting right off with the nonsense.” She huffs, annoyed at herself, and continues. “-when I went to a far better college than she did, and I should hate her, but for some reason-”

Her surroundings suddenly and drastically change and she comes to a stop, staring at the transparent screen floating in front of her, and instinctively continues reading, as if she had been reading this before “-is extremely peculiar for a pearl such as herself-” She immediately stops reading, just staring at the floating screen- the closest thing Peridot can connect it to in her mind being some form of futuristic tablet. “Wait, what!? Wh-what's going on!? Wh-where am I!?” She squeaks, then realizes she has one finger-like object floating in front of the screen, and four identical things making up its edges. “Aaaaah! IS THIS TABLET MADE OF MY FINGERS!?” Right as she says this, the ‘fingers’ split apart- naturally returning to a hand like formation- and the screen fizzles out. “What!” She screeches, and stumbles backward. “How- Why- Huh!? What the heck is-”

Backing away in her confusion, she bumps the back of her head into a wall, and slowly looks up at the cliff face, which, to her complete and abject horror, has people-shaped holes everywhere across it. “AAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!” She screams at the top of her lungs and darts to hide behind a large boulder, before looking up and realizing that, rather than a boulder, the object appears to be some sort of massive drill device that resembles a bacteriophage. “YAAAAAAHHHH!!” She screams, falling on her back, staring up at both monstrosities. “Wha- Wh-wh-what is this place!? Where am I!?” She scrambles away, and, once the initial dismay and confusion begins to wane, something finally registers on her panicked mind. She looks quickly at her legs, her eyes wide. “What the- My legs!” She gasps. “I can feel my legs! Kind of…” She tentatively rises to her feet, surprised at how relatively easy it is.

She starts walking in the direction she was going when this all started, trying to puzzle out what’s going on. “…Did Jasper put something in my coffee? Because this make zero sense.” She realizes a second too late that her foot had stepped off into nothing, and she falls down some sort of long, square chute and crashes unharmoniously into the ground at the bottom. “AAAAAAA!" She sits up, rubbing back of head, and groaning.  “H-how did I survive a fall like that?…”   

She clambers to her feet, looking around the room, with it’s strange rock pillars and broken crystal set into the back. “What the heck  _ is _ this place?” As if in answer, there’s an ominous cracking sound to one side her, and Peridot looks at the pillar that it came from, with long cracks forming down it. “What is that?” She squeaks, and once again in response another loud crack sounds as the pillar breaks open further. “AH! What's going on!?” In a massive explosion of rubble and dust the pillar bursts open, and an amorphous ball of hands falls out, twitching and shrieking in some pale mockery of sentience and life. “AAAHHHH! AAAAAHH! AAAAHHH!!! G-g-g-get away from me!” She throws her arms up defensively, and one of her ‘hands’ forms a blaster and sends a bright green ball of plasma at the monster, scaring the area around it, and causing the creature itself to obliviate in a puff of smoke, a conglomerate of several gems clatters to the ground where it once resided. Peridot just… stares at her ‘hand’ for a moment, utterly flabbergasted. “…AHHHHH!!! There's a laser in my hand! THERE IS A LASER IN MY HAND!!!” She stumbles back against the wall, and slides down to the floor. “Oh god. Oh god. What is happening…”


	9. Wrong

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl switches back, and goes looking for Peridot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, yeah, this is the first chapter where I seriously question my rating. Human!Peridot doesn't know when to shut up.

### Chapter 8

#### Wrong

“Look, Amethyst, I still think I have every right to be w-” Suddenly, Pearl’s surroundings change slightly from that of her living room to the almost identical front room of the temple, and the people around her change, with Amethyst nowhere to be seen, and Steven sitting next to her. “-orried.” She looks around, and sighs happily, leaning back into the couch. “Oh thank heavens, I’m back.”

“Oh! Welcome back Pearl!” Steven grins at her. “I was confused for a second there. How are you?”

“I’m much better now that I’m back here.” She runs her hands through her hair. “How are you? Did anything happen? I was so worried, with you being all alone!”

“What are we, chopped liver?” Pearl looks over at Garnet, who’s seated across the room with her arms crossed.

“Nonononononononono” She shakes her head, waving her hands in front of her face. “I-It’s just that you’re not accustomed to gem things and, had something happened, I wasn’t sure you would know how to handle it! I-I wasn’t saying that you weren’t responsible or able to take care of Steven!” She hides her face. “Sorrysorrysorrysorry.”

“It’s okay Pearl. No offense taken.”

Steven pulls on Pearl’s elbow. “How’s everyone else?”

She lowers her hands, and just sits them on her lap. “They’re fine. Amethyst is terrible at actually going to work, though I’m unsure as to whether that problem is new even to their world, and Garnet…” Pearl glances over at Garnet. “Seems to enjoy working as a police officer a tad  _ too _ much.”

The other Garnet chuckles. 

“Okaaaay.” Steven smiles. “Nothing much has happened over here. It’s all been very quiet.”

Pearl crosses her arms. “I’m… concerned about Peridot…” 

“Peridot?” Steven tilts his head to the side. “Why?”

“Well, she came to Earth with a job to do.” Pearl weaves her fingers together, frowning . “And she doesn’t seem to be trying to go after us, so odds are that she’s still trying to do it.”

“What’s her job?” Steven pauses. “I mean, like what was she sent here to do?”

“Something involving the Kindergarten. She… might be reactivating it. Which would be catastrophic.” Pearl sighs. “We need to find her.”

“Well, we should go look for her then!”

“Is… Is Peridot a serious threat here?” Garnet asks slowly. “In our universe she’s just Jesse’s secretary that was sent to spy on us.”

“Who’s Jesse?”

Pearl shakes her head slowly, staring hard at Garnet. “Jessamine doesn’t matter Steven. She’s just someone from the other world.”

“She’s Rose’s sister.”

“My mom has a sister!?”

“No Steven.” Pearl bites her lip, fighting to keep her voice even. “Gems don’t have siblings, so  _ your _ mother did not have a sister.”

“Uuuuuh. O...kaaaay.”

Pearl rises to her feet. “Let’s go Steven.” She strides over to the warp pad without another word, and after a moment Steven follows. 

They warp off to the Kindergarten, and begin looking around.

It’s not long before they see her, just sitting, her back against the cliff face and staring up at the sky, and Pearl rushes over- summoning her spears as she runs.

Peridot, seeing her, squeaks and scrambles to to her feet, turning to run, but is quickly knocked off her feet with a deft sweep of the legs, and pinned to the ground; Pearl’s spear held down across her shoulders.

“Aaaaah!” She screams, trying to shield her face with her arms. “This is nothing like -and yet, also eerily similar to- how I imagined this circumstance would play out!”

Pearl lessens the pressure of her spear slightly, staring at Peridot like the green gem had lost her mind.“…What are you talking about?” She clenches her teeth and presses her spear into Peridot’s shoulder twice as hard as before. “I'm going to destroy you- you-” She sputters, glaring at Peridot. “You worthless twit!”

“Still bizarrely similar!” She squeaks. “Please, I'm getting  _ weird _ signals here. Help me out, is this ‘I'm trying to kill you’ death threats- if so  _ why _ ? Or ‘I'm actually into that’ death threats?”

“…Wha?” Pearl lessens up, just staring dumbfounded at at Peridot.

“Well, it's just, you're really quiet all the time, and I thought 'Well, all that pent-up energy has to go somewhere', right? And like, you  _ fence _ which is like, a super aggressive sport… So I…” She laughs nervously, fidgeting under the spear. “Kinda… Had you pegged… As a…” She forces a smile. “Dom?”

Pearl is dead silent for several moments, her face flooding with colour.

“…This…” Peridot frowns. “Isn't at all what this is about. Is it?”

Pearl slaps Peridot across her face, and the sound of it is so loud that it echoes slightly in the dark empty canyon. 

“What do you want from me, woman!?” Peridot shouts, just staring at Pearl. 

“THERE IS A CHILD PRESENT!”

Peridot cranes her head to look at Steven, who nervously waves at her.

“Oh.” She says slowly. “Uhhh…” She chuckles weakly. “Hello… Steven.” She pauses. “So, uuhm, when two ladies of consenting age and agreeable sexual preferences have strong feelings for each other they MHHMFFHFMFHFMMFFMHF” Pearl smacks a hand over Peridot’s mouth, her face still very blue.

“Shut up.” She hisses. “He’s  _ twelve _ .”

Steven blinks several times. "I... didn't need to hear that…” He murmurs, crossing his arms. “But I think this might be the other Peridot. She did mention that you  _ fence _ .”

“Oh. That…” Pearl clears her throat, standing up- though she keeps her spear pointed at Peridot, who sits up, staring at the spiraled tip in terror. “Yes. That makes sense.” She lets out a slow breath. “And only makes this marginally less unsettling.”

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“Steven, for the last time,  _ you, _ are the only one who really misses Cookie Cats.” Pearl sighs, crossing her arms. “Here and in-” Her surroundings shift slightly, and all of a sudden it’s Amethyst sitting beside her, and the front room of the temple is replaced with her nearly identical living room. “-The other world.” She blinks several times before sighing happily, weaving her fingers together. “I’m  _ home _ .”

“Ugh. Well, I’m out of here, then.” Amethyst jumps to her feet. “See you later even-more-boring Pearl.”

“I feel like I should be offended, but I’m just happy to be home.” Pearl laughs lightly, leaning back on the couch. “My  _ normal _ life as a  _ human. _ ”

“Laaaaame.” Amethyst crosses her arm. “Being human is  _ lame _ . You have to  _ work _ , and stuff.” She walks over to, and hops out of, the window, Pearl quickly following her out the door.

“You’re complaining about a job where you get free food?” She shakes her head. “ _ You _ are complaining about a job where you get free fo-aaaah!”

Pearl crashes to the ground, Peridot grabbing a hold of her shirt as she tackles her, having burst from the bushes by Pearl’s door. 

“Gah!” Pearl orients herself, realizing who’s tackled her. “P-Peridot!? What are  _ you _ doing here?”

Peridot tightens her grip on Pearl’s shirt. “WHY DON'T I HAVE LEGS?!?”

Pearl blinks several times, just staring, utterly shocked and confused. “BECAUSE YOU WERE IN A CAR ACCIDENT!” She shouts back. “WHY ARE YOU ASKING  _ ME _ !?”

Peridot huffs. “Because obviously  _ YOU _ had a hand in this indoctrination! Why  _ ELSE _ would this version of me have written such…” Her face flushes, the hands tightly gripping Pearl’s shirt shaking slightly. “… Egregious nonsense about you in her journal!?” She grits her teeth. “What is this place!? Some kind of machination of your temples reality alteration room? Some brainwashing experiment? Answer me! NOW!”

Pearl sits up, easily proving that Peridot wasn’t holding her down with any meaningful strength at all. “DEAR GOD, PERIDOT!” She rubs her temples, and sighs. “You are asking the wrong Pearl!”

Amethyst snickers, covering her mouth with her hand. “I guess she's switched.”

Peridot blinks several times, staring at her hands like she’s puzzled that she was so easily knocked off Pearl. She looks back up, narrowing her eyes at Amethyst. “Explain this ‘Switched’.”

Pearl sighs, standing back up. “There’s some sort of phenomenon that’s causing minds to switch across universes, between this universe, and your’s.” She squeezes her thumbs, staring at the ground. “ _ I _ had nothing to do with it. I’m not able to tell you anything about what is causing this nonsense, though trust me, it probably irritates me as much as it irritates you.” She sighs. “What do you mean by ‘Egregious nonsense’ about me in her journal?”

Peridot’s face flushes. “Th-that doesn’t matter! We will speak again of this phenomenon, mark my words!” She squeaks, before bolting, gone just as fast she appeared.

Pearl sighs, shaking her head. “I guess she doesn’t really change across universes either. Just as much of a jumpy weirdo.”

Amethyst breaks down laughing. “Geeze, and I thought she was an actual threat. Does your Peridot always act like that?” 

“… Pretty much.”


	10. Tidal Shift

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lapis switches

### Chapter 9

#### Tidal Shift

Lapis is pushing. Pushing with the force of the ocean. Pushing harder than she thought possible.

Ceaselessly. Unendingly.

And then, it stops.

It just stops. Like it was never supposed to. Like  _ she _ was never supposed to.

She's alone.

She’s not supposed to be alone.

Her mind stretches, and reaches, desperately searching for her unwilling companion. 

But she’s alone. Very alone.

Standing in the middle of Beach City.

And, somehow, she has never been more scared.

Where is Jasper? Why aren’t they Malachite?

What’s going on? Has she snapped? Has the strain of maintaining that fusion finally broken her?

Shattering her mind. Leaving her delusional and feeling so very, very alone? Is Jasper using her now? Is she a prisoner again?  

A prisoner in her own mind?

No. She couldn’t be. It’s not possible.

If she’s gone mad, her madness would affect Jasper just as well.

Right?

Has she lost her mind? She slowly looks down at herself, surprised by the white pants, navy sandals, and navy and white striped shirt she sees, in addition to her skin being light brown coloured. 

She sucks in a sharp breath, raising her own hands, just staring at them, utterly shocked by her skin colour.

She… she  _ must _ be going mad.

There’s no other explanation. 

For the first time, she actually looks around her immediate area, taking in the normal-seeming suburban streets, and the sound and smell of the nearby ocean, and the ordinary people walking by her, paying her no mind.

She lets out a slow breath. This doesn’t  _ seem _ like the conjurations of a mind gone crazy.

Okay. So the  _ world _ is the one that’s gone mad.

Pulling herself together somewhat she finds a place to sit and think.

So Malachite… if she’s here- wherever… here is, then Malachite… probably doesn’t exist anymore. Who knows what’s going on? Who knows what Jasper is doing?

Lapis doesn’t. And this terrifies her.

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Lapis walks slowly down the street, turning her predicament over in her mind.

She just can't do this any more. Helping Jesse steal from Greg, just because she’s in debt? Just because of that stupid mirror?

But… that’s why Jasper is here. To keep her in line and stop her from straying from her job.

She doesn’t have much of a choice.

Her world stops all at once, a pressure greater than she could ever have imagined slamming down on her mind, and before she can even get a sense of her surroundings she feels some part of herself being ripped apart with a bright white light.

She gasps, water rushing onto her body, and her thoughts just  _ stop _ . 

That is until she dimly sees Jasper swimming towards her, and just… throws her arms forward, and the water itself seems to follow her command, and blasts the burly figure away.

Then panic begins to set in. 

She’s underwater.

Somewhere deep.

She’s going to drown. 

Just as soon as this thought popped into her head, the water seems to push her up to the surface, practically throwing her up above the waves.

Before gravity could pull her back down, a pair of wings made of water spring from her back.

Terrified by all of what just happened she just flies off. 

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Peridot sits with her knees pulled up to her chest, just… staring across the room at Garnet. 

“Stop staring at me.” Garnet says, not even looking at Peridot.

“Are you  _ sure _ you aren’t going to punch me?”

Garnet turns towards Peridot, frowning. “Why would I punch you?”

“… you’re a boxer. Punching is what you do.” Peridot ducks her head. “And I am your enemy.”

Garnet is silent for a moment. “I'm not going to punch you.”

Peridot peeks up at Garnet, her eyes narrowed. “…And you're sure of this?”

Garnet sighs.

Peridot goes dead silent, then screams at the top of her lungs, darting out of the room and flying away, with her fingers spinning like helicopter blades, the moment she’s out the door.

Steven looks down from his loft-bed area. “I… guess Peridot switched back. Pearl isn’t going to like that she escaped.”

“Whoops.” Garnet shrugs. “I guess the switches officially don’t register on my future sight. I wouldn’t worry too much though. It was easy enough to capture her the first time, wasn’t it?”

“She-uh…” Steven climbs down from his bed. “She didn’t really fight back. She just said some… weird things about Pearl.”

“Well, she’s always been weird around Pearl.” Garnet shrugs. “Even back in High School, so that’s nothing new.”

“You guys knew Peridot in High School? Cool!” Steven grins.

The temple door slides neatly open, and Pearl steps out. “Okay-” She stops abruptly. “Where’s Peridot?”

“She switched back and escaped. Sorry.” Steven smiles nervously. “It was kind of sudden. She was out the door before I even knew what was happening.”

Pearl sighs, and opens her mouth to say something, but before she could speak, the screen door is knocked off it’s hinges, with Jasper standing in the doorway looking deranged. 

“Where is she!?” The maddened Quartz shrieks. “Where is that little blue wretch!? I will rip her into dust so help me-” Jasper freezes dead upon seeing Steven , her eyes locking with those of the half-gem in a moment of pure rage and silence. “... **YOU** .” In an instant, Jasper is upon him, Steven just barely managing to duck under her fist before it embeds itself deep into the wall behind him.

“Not good! Help!” Steven rushes underneath a chair, only to have it lifted up and thrown across the room by the feral homeworld gem. Steven, ever the survivor, begins running once more.

“You can’t run forever, you little pebb-” Jasper is quickly cut off by a painful stab to her side from Pearl’s spear, only managing to scratch the angry gem, but doing enough to distract her for long enough for Steven to run out the door. Jasper turns around and menaces Pearl. “You’ve got a lot of nerve, you defective little fool!” She steps forward angrily, but Pearl raises her spear in defiance.

“Don’t you think you can threaten me just because they built me for service and you for war. I have  _ eons _ of experience over you, and I am not about to be beaten by the likes of-HEY!” Pearl’s impassioned speech is cut off abruptly by Jasper grabbing the spear in a wide arced swing, breaking it in half on her knee, and promptly roundhouse kicking Pearl across the room, out the window, and unceremoniously down the stairs onto the beach below. Jasper smirks at her decided win.

“Ha! That’ll teach you your place you foolish little-GAH!” It was Jasper’s turn to be cut off as Garnet, who had been hiding behind the couch composing herself until now, finally decided to take action, utilizing Jasper’s distracted nature to make an opportunistic punch straight to the back of the homeworlder’s head. Jasper wheels around to see the fusion standing behind her, having taken an odd, semi-squatting attack stance, with her fists raised, as if to block her face. “And  _ what _ exactly is that silly stance supposed to accomplish?”

“It lowers your centre of gravity, making it far easier to bullrush your opponents.”

“Wait, bull what-” Jasper immediately got her answer when she received a  _ series _ of quick one-two punches to her stomach, leaving the beastly gem gasping for air. This assault is immediately supplemented by a right hook across the jaw, so fierce that the gem went flying sideways, straight into a series of cabinets in the kitchen. “Argh! Why you!” Jasper lunges at Garnet, only to overshoot her as the fusion ducks under the jump, landing rolling in order to continue the assault. This continues to varying degrees for multiple minutes, Jasper giving wide, powerful swings that hit nothing, whilst Garnet keeps her fists close to her chest, making quick jabs at Jasper’s face and chest, with the occasional wide swings to throw the homeworlder off-balance. Jasper quickly grows frustrated at the lack of success. “Stop that! Stop… twitching! Fight me like a warrior! Not a dancer!”

Garnet smirks. “It’s not my fault you can’t dance.” This seemed to be a final straw, as Jasper ran  headlong at Garnet, only to have Garnet perform a sidestep, grab Jasper’s running form, and suplex the gem sideways, sending her flying out the other, previously unshattered window. Jasper lands unceremoniously next to Pearl, who was only now beginning to regain consciousness, being fanned by Steven, who is waving a towel in her general direction.

“Come on Pearl! Get up! Get up!” Steven implores of the gem, noticing Jasper slowly rise to her feet.

“Urgh… Steven? Wh-What happened? Why am Iaaahhh!” Pearl is quickly yanked up to her feet as Jasper grabs at one of her arms, and catches the lanky gem in a headlock, right as Garnet makes it down to the beachside.

“Not ONE move, Crystal Fools! One more step, and this Pearl’s gem is dust!” She holds a hand over Pearl’s forehead, the threat readily apparent. “Now then. I have one,  _ simple _ question for the lot of you. Where. Is. Lapis. Lazuli?”

“RIGHT HERE!” Jasper is suddenly yanked upwards by a massive translucent hand of pure seawater, the homeworld gem screeching in surprise at her sudden elevation. “HEY, JASPER!” Lapis Lazuli shouts up at the captured gem. “I QUIT!!!” And then Jasper, in a moment that will likely be remembered for decades as “The Beach City Reverse Meteor”, is sent hurtling upwards, into the stratosphere, and for off into the horizon.

Pearl slowly rises to her feet from her she was dropped by Jasper, and Lapis slowly walks over. “Uhm. Hello.”

“Hi Lapis!” Steven says cheerfully, waving at her. 

She waves back, slowly. “Hello Steven…” She lets out a slow breath. “So, apparently I can control the ocean.” She laughs lightly. “That was freaking cathartic!"

Pearl sighs, dusting herself off, and scowling at the ground. “You must be the other Lapis then.”

“Other Lapis?” She tilts her head to the side. “Wait, is this not a thing affecting everyone? Is there some SPACE ALIEN or something running my life back home!?”

“…Yes.” Pearl crosses her arms. “That exactly.”

“Oh god!” Lapis gasps, grabbing the sides of her head. “How do we switch back?”

“It… just sort of happens when it does.” Steven shrugs. “We can't figure out a way to control it.”

Lapis sighs. “So, who's who then?”

Steven grins. “Well me and Pearl are from this world. Amethyst and Garnet aren't.”

“What do we do then?” She asks. “Something tells me I can't exactly wait this out in my apartment.”

“… You don't have an apartment in this world.” Pearl mutters. “You’re from space.”

“…Which, I guess furthers my point.” She sighs and glances up at the temple. “You guys have room and board?”

Steven turns a big hopeful grin towards Pearl, who sighs. 

“You get the couch.” She says flatly. “And you eat meals when we serve it, and you will clean up after yourself. Understood?”

“Geeze. Uptight much.” Lapis rolls her eyes, then sighs. “Yeah, sure. Works for me.”

Steven beams. “Yeah! Interdimensional Gem Sleepover!”

 


	11. Homeward Fusion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garnet switches back

### Chapter 10

#### Homeward Fusion

Garnet takes another swing at the punching bag hanging in her basement. Then another. And another.

In her mind the punching bag is the slinker. It represents far greater issues as well, but for now, the slinker will do for most of her outlet.

She swings again- The world shifts- and she punches Lapis Lazuli in the face.

“OOOWW!”

“Sorry” She pauses, looking around the front room of the temple. “What are you doing here?”

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHAT AM I DOING HERE!?” Lapis screeches, throwing her arms to the side. “WHY DID YOU JUST PUNCH ME!?”

“I thought you were a punching bag.” Garnet leans back on the couch, closing her eyes.

“WHAT DOES THAT MEAN!?!” Lapis snaps.

Steven, across the room, jumps down from his bed, grinning wildly. “Garnet's back!”

Lapis sighs. “Oh. You… you were punching a punching bag in the other world. Okay. Sure. Why not.”

“Welcome back Garnet!” Steven runs over to the couch. “How are you?”

Garnet smiles. “I’m glad to be back.”

“Uh huh.” Steven smiles again, though this time, it seems mildly forced. “You… might not be in a minute.” 

Garnet leans forward her elbows on her knees. “Steven. What happened?”

“PEARL! GARNET IS BACK!” Steven shouts towards the temple door, which slides open neatly after a few moments of Steven forcing an awkward smile towards Garnet, and Pearl steps out, slowly walking over to the couch.

“…Welcome back, Garnet.” 

“What. Happened.”

“Heh, heh.” Pearl twirls her hands in the air in front of her, looking slightly panicked. “Uhm. Well, you see, uh, we, uh, captured Peridot briefly while she was switched, and uhm, you see, the other Peridot, she uh, gave us, uhm, some small amount of insight, to- uh, well, uhm, what Peridot’s mission actually is, and uhm…” She ducks her head, wringing her hands. “There were…” She gulps, closing her eyes tightly. “Uhm. Well. F-forced F-f-fusions of g-gem shards.” Pearl takes a deep, shaking breath. “She p-p-poofed one of them repeatedly, b-because she didn’t know how to bubble. I-it’s in y-your room now-”

Garnet stands up and silently walks outside, several loud crashes reaching those indoors, and what can unmistakably be identified as someone punching a boulder in half in abject fury, before she comes back in, pushing her visor up her nose. “We need to handle them. Now. Where are they?”

“Well, uh, I would assume the Kindergarten.” Pearl bites her lips. “Are… you okay, Garnet?”

“I’m fine.” Garnet stand resolute, though the slightest of twitches begins to form in her left wrist as it lays at her side. “Let’s go handle them.” She starts to walk to the warp pad, but Pearl grabs her arm, stopping her.

“Wait! Garnet…” She sighs. “I don’t think it’s that simple. After Peridot mentioned it, Steven and I went to investigate where she said she found it- in the control room- but while there were a number of unusual pillars there, that didn’t used to be there, but there was no sign of anymore of them.”

Garnet pulls her arm away from Pearl, but continues to stand facing the warp pad with her back to Pearl. “Fine. We’ll wait. But I want answers. Tell me everything else that happened while I was switched.”

“W-well, uh, Peridot switched back, e-escaping, Lapis switched, causing Malachite to split up, uh, the other you fought Jasper, th-then Lapis showed up, throwing her off into the distance…”

“Mmm. That it?”

“Y-yes.”

“...I’m going to take a look around the Kindergarten anyway.” She glances over her shoulder at Pearl. “You can stay here.”

Pearl nods slightly, as Garnet steps on the warp pad and warps away.

She quickly returns briefly, staring directly at Pearl. “In case it wasn’t obvious. Do NOT follow me.” Pearl nods quietly, and just like that Garnet is gone once more, taking much of the other gem’s comfort with her.

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“But… do you guys trust me?” Lapis tilts her head to the side. “I know you… like me better than Peridot or Jasper, but I’ve never got the feeling you guys trusted me.”

“Mmmm.” The world shifts, and she finds herself standing in her basement, her fists raised towards her punching bag, and sweat dripping down her form in waves. She lowers her hands, and looks around. “Hmm. I guess I’m home.”

She takes a deep breath, and smiles. 

_ Hello Ruby, Sapphire. I missed you _ . 

_ We never left you Garnet.  _ Garnet can see Sapphire slight smile in her mind’s eye.  _ We were just a part of you in a more literal way than usual. _

Garnet chuckles into her hand. “Yeah. That was strange.” 

_ Pearl and Amethyst still owe you five bucks. _

Though Ruby’s voice is just a figment of her imagination, Garnet can hear the barely repressed laugh. 

Garnet chuckles again, and leaves her house, seeking out Amethyst.

She’s got a few questions. 

Garnet catches Amethyst just as she’s leaving work. “Amethyst.”

_ Ask for your money _

_ That’s hardly a priority, Ruby. Besides, this isn’t the correct Amethyst. _

_ Pfft. Way to kill my fun. _

“Ugh. Garnet, what are you doing here?” Amethyst crosses her arms “Didn’t you say you were gonna look for the slinker or something today.”

_ She’s not going to have a good reason.  _ Saphire’s hushed tones echo in Garnet’s ear. It wasn’t the first time her imaginary friend had told her of things before they happened, and it wasn’t the first time she’d ignored her either.

“I switched back.” Garnet crosses her arms. “I wanted to ask you why you never thought to mention the alternate universe to me.”

Amethyst shrugs. “Eh. You weren’t my Garnet.”

_ Told you _ . 

“Well then.” She uncrosses her arms. “Are we not friends then? I assumed that if you liked that version of me, you’d at least trust this version of me.”

"This is more a 'boss' Garnet problem than a 'friend' Garnet problem.” Amethyst shrugs again. “Sorry. You should've taken this up with Pearl, she’s more the ‘confiding in friends’-type anyways.”

_ We did. What do you think, we’re stupid!? _

_ Mind your temper Ruby. She’s not doing anything wrong. _

“I did, actually. She apologized profusely, and admitted that she was struggling at being human so much that the idea of warning us completely slipped her mind.”

_ She’s so neurotic.  _ Ruby’s voices pops up, complaining in Garnet’s mind. 

_ It’s perfectly understandable for her to be jarred by suddenly being a human, as she’s lived her whole life as a magic alien. I do recall you freaking out about  _ **_existing_ ** _ in that other world. _

_ LIKE YOU WEREN’T!? _

_ Stop fighting. You’ll give me a headache.  _

Amethyst snorts. “Yeah, that’s Pearl for you. I mean, she was having trouble even  _ eating. _ ” Amethyst rolls her eyes. “It was stupid.”

_ Had trouble  _ **_eating_ ** _? That… Doesn’t bode well. _

_ Not our Pearl, not our problem. Besides, it’s not like SHE needs to eat. _

_ She needs to eat when she’s in our Pearl’s body. _

_ … Shut up Sapphire.  _

“Mmmm” Garnet pauses. “Strange. Well. I’ll be on my way then.” 

_ Garnet. If they’re your friends, how come they never talk to you like you’re a human being. _

_ Because she’s more than that, Ruby. To them, she’s more than just human. She’s their leader. _

Garnet had heard that explanation dozens of times from Sapphire, but for some reason, instead of comfort, this one only seemed to bring more pain.


	12. Human Perspective

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connie Switches back

### Chapter 11

#### Human Perspective

“No, seriously Steven, the ENTIRE ocean! She almost drowned us!” She fiddles with her glasses. “It was right after you healed my eyes.”

“… Healed your eyes? And no! Lapis wouldn’t steal the ocean, let alone drown us- even if she could!”

“Oh, yeah. The other you has healing spit. We shared a juice box and it healed my eyesight. You won’t believe how  _ weird _ it is to  _ need _ my glasses again. That was almost a year ago-” Her surrounds shift from being Pearl’s front lawn, with her talking to Steven and her violin case sitting off to the side, to her bedroom at home. “-actually… Oh. Huh.” She pulls out her phone and calls Steven. “Hey, Steven. Can I come over? I just switched back.”

“Oh, yeah, sure thing! Do you need a ride? I think my dad can pick you up?”

“One sec.” Connie lowers the phone. “HEY! DAD! CAN YOU GIVE ME A RIDE TO STEVEN’S!?”

“SURE! REMEMBER, YOUR CURFEW IS 9!”

“I KNOW!” She puts the phone back to her ear. “No, my dad can take me. See you in an hour or so.”

After an hour long car ride making small talk with her dad, they get to Beach City, and Connie runs up the stairs to Steven’s house, and scrambles back against the wall almost immediately. Just barely dodging out of the way as some sort of monster with ten arms and no legs goes flying through the air. 

Steven darts in front of her holding out his shield. “Sorry! The gem mutant wasn’t here when you called!” Garnet punches the mutant again, poofing and bubbling it. 

“Hello Connie.” Garnet intones, before immediately turning around and walking into her room.

Connie lets out a slow breath. “What the heck was that! It certainly wasn’t a normal gem monster!”

“Oh. That was a gem mutant.” He shudders. “They… they’re this really nasty homeworld experiment that… like forcibly fused gem shards. It’s really creepy.”

“Oh.” Connie lets out a slow breath. “I… wish I could have helped, but…” She chuckles. “Tennis skills wouldn’t help much against monsters…”

Steven laughs. “Well they were pretty effective against the robot shooty thing!” A wide grin splits acrosss his face. “Oooo! Oooo! Oooo! You should learn sword fighting!”

“I should  _ what _ !?”

Pearl looks over at the two kids with wide eyes. “I… can’t possible have just heard you correctly, Steven. Did you just say Connie should learn swordfighting?”

“Yeah! And you should teach her Pearl!”

“Well, I mean…” Connie blushed, ducking her her head. “I would love to learn how, but it is pretty crazy…” 

“Connie! You’re already so good! You help fight the robot shooty thing, AND the evil clone of yourself!”

Pearl weaves her fingers together in front of her face. “Hmm. You're awfully young to begin something like this. But…” She pauses. “I suppose I was only a few thousand years old when I began fighting alongside Rose Quartz.”

Connie bites her lip. “Please Pearl? I-I wanna learn!” She nods, looking more determined. “Yeah! I wanna learn! I don't know what'll happen in the future, but if something dangerous comes along, I don't wanna be a burden, I wanna help!” He face floods with colour. “I wanna be there for Steven, to fight by his side! The Earth is my home too, can't I help protect it?”

Tears well up in Pearl’s eyes, and she nods, rising to her feet. “I-if that’s how you feel, of course I’ll teach you! We should get started!” Pearl starts walking towards the warp pad.

“Wait, now?” Connie darts after her.

“Yes, now.” Pearl smiles. “Heavens, with these switches, who knows when we’ll be able to do this. So yes, now.” She activates the warp. 

The warp stream pulls the three straight off their feet, and deposits them elsewhere on a different warp pad, Connie ungracefully falling face first onto the cold, bluish crystal.

Steven helps her to her feet. “It can take some getting used too.” He beams at her, and she giggles. 

“This way you two.” 

The two share a look and dart after Pearl, up the steps.

“This is an Ancient Sky Arena, Connie, where some of the first battles for Earth took place. It was here that I became familiar with the human concept of being a knight, completely dedicated to a person and a cause.” Pearl turns towards Connie, presenting her with the sword “This is what you must become, Connie; brave, selfless, loyal… a knight!” She grins. “We begin with a bow, first to me, your teacher.” Pearl bows, and after a moment Connie returns it. “And now again, to your liege.”

Connie and Steven giggle at the formality, but Connie bows just the same.

“My liege.” She states, barely suppressing a laugh.

“Loyal knight” Steven intones, also clearly attempting to keep his composure.

Pearl, smiles at the two of them. “Right then. Shall we begin?” She hands Connie a sword from within her gem, and Connie grasps it, feeling, despite the blades immense weight, a feeling of safety and honour in wielding it.

She nods. “Yes. I’m ready!” She enters a fighting stance opposite of Pearl, and the two begin to train.

And train they do, for hours, days, and weeks on end, only pausing when one of them is switched with their other. As the weeks draw on, and Connie’s skill improves, Steven can’t help but notice his friend slowly grow more distant, resolute, and determined. But not in ways that drew forth pride, but worry and fear. Not only that, but, as he learned from Amethyst and Garnet, this personality was drawing worrying parallels with that of Pearl of times gone past. A resolute and stalwart knight. Ready, willing, and able to enter the fray for her lord. A noble attitude, for someone who can regenerate. But when you’re a human, a being of flesh, a being that bleeds and breaks… Steven shudders at the thought of what this could mean. Finally, drawing forth all his confidence, Steven decides to follow Connie and Pearl to the sky arena, and get his friend back.

“Remember, Connie.” Steven hears Pearl talking as he runs up the stairs towards the main part of the arena. “In the heat of battle, Steven is what matters. You don't matter.”

A cold chill runs down Steven’s side, and he picks up the pace,

“I don't matter.” Connie repeats.

Steven gasps, reaching the top of the stairs just as clouds descend and conceal the arena.

“Connie!” Steven shouts, trying to find her in the fog. He can vaguely hear her, and the sound of clashing swords, so he beelines for the sound. “Connie, where are you?” He looks around frantically, squinting in the fog. “Connie!?”

He hears footsteps, and whirls around to see a Holo-Pearl approaching him.

Steven shakes his head, backing away. “Y-You wouldn't have happened to see Connie would you?”

The Holo-Pearl raises her sword, her eyes reddening. “Unregistered combatant detected!”

A sword stabs right through Holo-Pearl, and she quickly dissipates, revealing Connie behind her,

“Connie!” Steven shouts happily. “I’ve been looking everywhere for y-”

“Steven!?” Connie shouts “What are you doing out here!?” 

Steven shakes his head and runs towards her. “Connie, I don't want you to do this anymore! At least not alone!”

Connie shakes head, a wide almost frightening grin spreading across her face. “No, Steven. I understand now! Your legacy, your destiny, you are  _ everything _ !” She laughs. “And I… I am  _ nothing _ … but I can do this for you! I can give you my service!

Steven shakes his head, his eyes very wide. “No no no no! I don't want you to!”

“Steven…” Connie mutters, darting around Steven, and impaling another holo-Pearl. “I'm doing this for you!” She takes a deep breath. “I need to be able to protect you!”

Steven shakes his head quickly. “But if you're the one protecting me…” Steven stares over Connie’s shoulder. “Then who's the one protecting you?!” He pushes her behind him, summoning his shield, countering another Holo-Pearl's attack. He takes a deep breath. “Connie, someday soon, we may be fighting some really, really bad guys, and when that day comes, I want to fight with you,  _ together _ ! So please…”  Four Holo-Pearls appear on all sides, advancing on the two, and Steven raises has shield. “Let me fight with you. We’re a team. Always.”

After a moment's hesitation, Connie grabs Steven's hand. All four Holo-Pearls leap up and land on Steven's shield.

“This is much easier!” Connie says, grinning.

“That's the idea!” Steven beams at Connie, and summons his bubble, pushing all four Holo-Pearls of his shield and shattering them. “No matter what comes, we’re in this together Connie!”

“STEVEN!” Pearl’s voice cuts through the fog, which quickly dissipates, revealing Pearl standing a few feet away. The bubble around Steven and Connie pops. “Steven…” Pearl sighs. “Don't interfere. She needs to take me on by herself.”

“Why?!” Steven shouts, stomping his foot. “We're a team.”

“Yeah! We fight together!” Connie agrees, and the two charge towards Pearl. Connie crosses swords several times with a bewildered Pearl, but when Pearl finds the opportunity to attack, Connie turns to reveal Steven, with his shield, blocking her sword. Connie slides under Pearl's legs and tries to attack her from behind, Steven trying to attack from the front, but in one deft swing of her sword Pearl disarms them both, Steven’s shield dissipating as it hits the ground.

“ENOUGH!” She shouts, breathing heavily. “NO! In a real battle, Steven won't be there to save you!”

“Yes, I will!” Steven shouts, stepping towards Pearl, his hands clenched into fists at his sides.

Pearl sighs, closing her eyes and shaking her head. “Steven, you don't know that!”

“Yes, I do! If Connie is going to fight, we're going to fight together!”

Connie steps up. “That's right!”

“You shouldn't be anywhere near the fight, Steven!” Pearl moans. “You're too important!”

“I'm not!” 

“Yes, you are!” Pearl shouts.

“NO!” Steven glares up at Pearl.

“WHY WON'T YOU JUST LET ME DO THIS FOR YOU, ROSE!?” Pearl screams, tears welling up in her eyes. She freezes the realization of what she just said seeming to dawn on her slowly, and she slowly lets out a breath. “I…  I mean... let her... do this.” She mutters weakly. “Why won't you let Connie do this… for you…” Her sword slips out of her hand, clattering to the ground. “That's… enough for today.” She slowly walks off, and sits down at the edge of the arena, her face in her hands.

Steven and Connie share worried looks, and they both walk towards Pearl, sitting down on either side of her.

“Hey… Pearl? I didn't mean to mess up your training, but I was really getting worried, and all that ‘your nothing talk’ and sacrificial stuff was messing with my head.”

“Did…” Connie looks at Pearl, her eyebrows drawn together. “Did Rose make you feel like you were nothing?”

Pearl laughs weakly, and sighs, lifting her head, looking out over the horizon. “Rose made me feel…” She wipes at her eyes. “…like I was everything.” She shakes her head, blinking away tears. “I see now, how deeply you care about each other.” She smiles wistfully, sniffling. “That will make you both great knights!” She ruffles both kid’s hairs, and they all laugh.

\---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \----

Connie flips idly through a book she’s read a few dozen times before, when she’s quite suddenly sitting on Pearl’s lawn outdoors. “Aaa!” She blinks several times, looking around in bewilderment. “Oh. Oh. I’m back.” She lets out a slow breath, and looks at Steven sitting next to her. “Steven! How could you  _ not _ tell me about this weird alternate universe stuff!?”

Steven blinks several times, then grins. “Welcome back Connie!”

She sighs and stands up, grabbing her violin case. “Well, presuming the times are the same between universes, it’s about time for my violin practice with Pearl.”

“I think they are…” Steven frowns. “Is it time already?” He sighs. “Go do your violin things.”

Connie sighs, and walks inside muttering about the  _ crazy alternate universe _ and  _ How is he just taking this all in stride _ under her breath.

Pearl chuckles as Connie walks past her. “I take it then that you’ve switched back?”

“Yeah.” She sighs. “That was CRAZY.”

Pearl nods. “Yes. Yes it was.” She sighs, sitting down. “Magic aliens and monsters, and rebel survivors of an ancient war?” She shakes her head. “Too much for me.”

Connie sits down next to Pearl. “Ugh! I know right? My alternate wears glasses without lenses. Which is weird.” She shakes her head. “And you're alternate seemed…” Connie suddenly grows mildly self conscious of her words in the face of her friend’s guardian, speaking slowly. “…unbalanced at times. I mean, you can be a bit neurotic, but that was ridiculous.”

“I'm going to ignore tha-” She stops, narrowing her eyes at Connie. “Wait, how was she off balance? As far as I could gather, she's rather much like me, but she's fortunate enough to not have to eat, or sleep, or work.”

Connie frowns. “Uh,  _ mostly _ , yeah. But she was set off  _ a lot  _ easier- She got into this whole thing with Peridot- who was switched for a bit there, if you didn’t know- and was snapping at her about every little thing, and stopped her from asking something like... four times before she gave up on asking it. Something to do with a log entry? I dunno. But what was really weird was when I asked her how they all met in that world, she barely mentioned Garnet or Amethyst, and rambled on for half an hour about how devoted she was to Rose, and she never actually explained how they met.” She shakes her head. “I mean, geeze, unhealthy obsession mu-” Connie cuts herself off, staring at Pearl, who’s face is bright red, and she looks quite flustered. “Oh, don't tell me you can parallel that?”

Pearl ducks her head, wringing her hands. “Well, no, n-not exactly, I mean, not anymore.” She stammers.  “I-I…” She sighs, closing her eyes tightly. “I used to plan my entire life around Rose. For a long time, she was everything to me…” She pauses, glancing over at the front door. “Steven you don't need to keep poking your head into the room. If you want to be a part of the conversation, you can just come in.”

Steven steps inside, smiling sheepishly. “Heh. I'm usually not allowed in while you two are doing Violin things.”

Pearl clears her throat, staring up at the ceiling. “As I was saying…” She sighs. “I used to be that way, but I realized it was unhealthy to put her on a pedestal like that…” 

“You always say Mom was wonderful.”

Pearl’s eyes go as wide as saucers. “Nonono!” She waves her hands frantically in front of her face while shaking her head. “I'm not saying that she wasn't! Your mother was amazing, Steven! I'm just saying that I used to idolize her and act like she was flawless and-” She puts her face in her hands, hiding how red her face is. “I-I just didn't always think rationally when it came to your mother.”

Connie tilts her head to side. “How so?”

Pearl shifts uncomfortably, not looking at either kid. “You know, Connie, your mother would really prefer it if we would actually practice the Violin. The other you was just given a new composition to learn, and I'm supposed to be helping with that.” She laughs nervously.

“How so, Pearl?” Steven repeats Connie’s question.

Pearl sighs, twisting the ring on her left ring finger- something she’s had as long as either kid can remember. “I…” She bites her lip. “I gave up a full ride scholarship to my dream college across the country to stay here with Rose. I regret that more than anything in the world.” She ducks her head. “I can only imagine what my life would be like if I hadn't done that…” 

Steven walks across the room and hugs Pearl, who goes very stiff. “Well, for what it's worth, I think you did pretty good for yourself.” He murmurs. “I mean, you design airplanes!” He pulls away from her, grinning. “How cool is that?! And besides, if you went away on that scholarship, I'd never get to live here with you.”

Pearl laughs. “You always know how to cheer me up Steven.” She sighs, turning towards Connie. “If... If what you say is true, then that means that, for whatever reason, that world's Pearl has yet to overcome the issues I've faced in my life.” She wrings her hands, staring at the floor. “Which worries me, since I wasn't exactly proud of how I acted when Rose was my moral compass and logical focal point. I can only hope their Steven doesn't suffer for her obsession.”

“I… I’m sure he’s fine…” Connie murmurs. “He  _ seemed _ fine, at the very least.” She tries to sound sure. But, in light of recent events, Connie has very quickly learned that what  _ seems _ can be very deceiving.


	13. PBCW interlude: Dimensional anomalies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> PBCW interlude: Dimensional anomalies

### PBCW

#### Dimensional anomalies

Hello strangeteers! And welcome to Prove Beach City Weird once more! This is Ronaldo Fryman, aficionado of weird, and writer of this humble blog. And I’m here with more weird news!

… Oh, and due to many reports of spelling mistakes and grammatical errors in my previous post, I’ve brought my little brother Peedee on as an editor. He… may leave commentary. I dunno.

  * Hello Internet. -Peedee



As you all know from my previous post, weirdness levels have risen DRAMATICALLY in Beach City as of late, and I’ll be going into further detail now.

It all started a few weeks ago, with this anomaly at the Beach near the old Diamond Manor. (Photo included below)

  * Ronaldo, the photo you had here was of your thumb over the camera, so I took the liberty of removing it. 



As you can see, there are a number of strange holes in the cliff face, and they appear to be perfectly circular. Not only this, but a short while after discovering them, there was a strange sort of miniature earthquake, and immediately following it the holes VANISHED.

  * For some reason I doubt the veracity of that statement.- Peedee 



Not only that, but the old docks- the ones that aren’t really used anymore- quite suddenly became destroyed right before my eyes just the next day following after a similar quake. AND THEY WERE INTACT AGAIN THE VERY NEXT DAY.

  * I’m obligated to confirm this statement as I witnessed this as well. It was… inexplicable. -Peedee



Things like that have been happening all over Beach city and I am of the belief it’s some sort of dimensional anomaly. “A dimensional anomaly? What’s that?” You might be asking, fret not, connoisseur of strange, for I shall tell you!! See, a dimensional anomaly is an anomaly across dimensions!

  * For a less tautological definition: A dimensional anomaly is an unusual and inexplicable event caused by some sort of interaction between different dimensions. -Peedee



Now what’s causing these anomalies you may ask? Well, I don’t know yet, but I think we're being given some sort of elaborately coded message through these anomalies, which have been getting longer, and the quakes more intense as time has gone on, leading me to believe it’s a very  _ urgent _ message.

  * Uhhh. I don’t think it’s a message. Looking at your graphs and maps, I’m seeing a definite pattern, but it’s _not_ a message. They seem to have started centered around the old Diamond Manor, and then they moved quickly out through the city proper, but now seem to be moving _BACK_ towards the Manor as they get more intense, implying some sort of significance to the manor overall. -Peedee



I am still uncertain as to what exactly the message is, but I’m trying my best to decode it. I think it might be a warning of some kind. 

Stay weird folks, and I’ll see you next time on PROVE BEACH CITY WEIRD! This is Ronaldo Fryman, signing out. 

  * Okay. So, editors note: He misspelled anomaly as ‘anomolly’ every single time. It’s not important, really. But I felt the need to vent. -Peedee




	14. A Sardonic Point of View

### Chapter 12

#### A Sardonic Point of View

“What even  _ is _ this show Steven?”

Steven looks over at Lapis, and grins. “It’s crying breakfast friends.”

“… It’s weird.” Lapis mutters flatly.

“It’s my favorite show.” He clasps his hands together, beaming. “In this episode Spilled Mi-”

Before Steven can finish, a wave of static comes across the screen, and Steven groans. “Ugh. Not this again.” He crosses his arms. “It was doing this yesterday.”

“Also weird.” Lapis leans forward and flicks the screen.

Steven laughs. “What do you think that’s gonna do?”

The TV starts vibrating, and Lapis flinches away from it. “Not that!” She shakes her head. “What the heck is going on!?”

Steven blinks several times. “Uhhh. This has never happened before.”

A glitched image of Peridot flickers across the screen, and slowly stabilizes, clear words coming through.

“This is Peridot, transmitting on all frequencies from abandoned crystal system colony planet Earth, to Yellow Diamond. My mission has been compromised, my informant has defected, my escort is gone, and I am now stranded.” Her voice rises in pitch as she steadily grows more panicked. “On top of all this, there appears to be some sort of dimensional anomaly that needs to be addressed  **immediately** , as it is beyond my capability as a technician. Compromisation of the Cluster project is a likely possibility, and accurate predictions as to its future behaviour is highly uncertain.” She sucks in a shaky breath, sounding desperate. “Please send help!”

The message starts repeating endlessly, and Steven leans over the edge of the loft area. “Hey, Pearl!” Pearl looks up at him puzzled. “You’ll want to see this!”

Pearl climbs up, and watches the message with her brow furrowed. “What in heavens…” She shakes her head. “How is she…” Pearl shakes her head. “Uh. GARNET!”

After a moment the temple door opens and Garnet steps out. “What?” 

“Come see this.”

Wordlessly Garnet climbs up to the loft and stares at the screen. “Hmm… This is not good.”

 

“Is it on every television?” Lapis asks, looking between Pearl, Garnet, and Steven. “And who is Yellow Diamond? What’s ‘The Cluster Project’?” She sighs. “I’m with her on the Dimensional stuff needing to be address- I mean all of you have switched AT LEAST once in the past several weeks…” She pauses, then adds in an undertone. “Not that  _ I’ve _ had the pleasure of going back home…”

“One sec!” Steven pulls out his phone and quickly calls Connie. “Hey, Connie, can you check your TV to see if- Oh, yeah! Peridot! I’ll take that as a yes? Yeah, okay, thanks. Bye Connie!” He hangs up. “Connie says it’s on her TV too.”

“Where could she be broadcasting a signal that strong?” Pearl frowns, crossing her arms, and Lapis scoffs indignantly. 

“I asked more than one question people!”

“Yellow Diamond is our version of Jessamine and we don’t know what “The Cluster Project” is any better than you do!” Pearl snaps. “I’m more concerned with fact that she broadcasting it AT ALL than with the contents of the message.”

“There’s only one place she could broadcast it from.”

The group- after getting Amethyst- rides Lion to the Gem Communication Hub, Lion collapsing under the weight of all four gems, and Steven pops his head out of Lion’s mane, gasping for air. 

They all climb off, and Steven lingers for a moment, scratching Lion’s ear. “Sorry buddy, I know it’s a lot of people to carry…”

He runs over to the other gems, who are all staring up at the haphazardly assembled communication hub, that’s shooting an ethereal beam of light into the air. 

“It looks like Peridot somehow repaired the Communication Hub.” Pearl looks around at the rubble still littering the area. “Well, at least some of it.”   

“So… we just gotta wreck it up again, right?” He turns towards Garnet, grinning. “Are you and Amethyst going to fuse like last time?”

“Woah!” Amethyst gasps, whirling to look at Garnet. “ _ Are _ we going to do that fusion thing!? It sounds really cool!”

Pearl lets out a quiet squeak, and crosses her arms, glaring at the ground.

Garnet pushes up on her visor, and frowns. “No. Last time was a disaster.”

Amethyst frowns, her brow furrowed. “How was it a disaster? I mean…” She pauses. “We just sort of lost control of ourselves and fought P- Oh.” Her frown deepens, and she stares down at the ground, closing her eyes. “Well, I mean, that was the other me. It wasn't  _ me _ -me.” She looks up at Garnet hopefully. “Maybe we wouldn't lose control?”

Garnet takes off her visor, looking sad. “Amethyst, whether you're from this universe, or the other one, you can be reckless, I can be rash, and we can both get carried away.” She sighs. “It's because of Sugilite that we can't even warp here anymore” She gestures towards broken warp pad, and Amethyst bites her lip,

“B-but that wasn't me.” Amethyst insists, stepping towards Garnet. “I-I can help! I want to help!” She forces a smile. “You guys have been treating us like we're a nuisance, and…” She sighs. “And I'm getting tired of it!”

Steven glances between Amethyst and Garnet. “Don't you need to be huge like last time?”

“Y-Yeah!” Amethyst stammers. “Wouldn't it be cool!?”

Garnet shakes her head, and puts her visor back on. “For the time being, Sugilite is benched. ALL Sugilites, yours and my other's included.”

Amethyst sighs, staring sadly at the ground. “If… If that’s what you really think is best…”

“Right now, we need to be careful.”  She turns towards Pearl- who’s eyes go wide. “It's you and me Pearl. Lets fuse.”

Tears well up in Pearl’s eyes, and she clasps her hands under her chin, nodding. “O-okay.”

“Don't cry, Pearl.” Garnet walks off to the side. “Let's do this.”

Pearl, wiping at her eyes, follows Garnet. “I'm right behind you…”

As they start their fusion dance, Amethyst steps up next to Steven. “Was… was Sugilite really that bad? I just remembered a bit, but…” She shakes her head. “I really wanted to try that fusion thing. It sounds really cool…”

Steven, distracted watching the fusion dance, takes a moment to respond to Amethyst. “Huh? Oh, well. Uhm. I guess she was kind of destructive and out of control, but I thought she was pretty cool.” He pauses. “Pearl didn't like her.” He pauses again. “Maybe Pearl will fuse with you later if you ask nice enough!”

Amethyst frowns and looks away. “Uhm. For some reason I doubt that…” She sighs. “Pearl doesn't seem to trust your Amethyst, and I think she trusts me even less…”

“Gooooood evening, everybody!” Steven, seeming to forget Amethyst entirely turns a wide grin towards the fusion, exiting a pillar of light that turns into glowing dragonflies. She struts over to Lion, Steven, Lapis, and Amethyst and twirls. “This is the lovely Sardonyx! Coming to you a-live from the soon-to-be-former Communication Hub! How are y'all doin' tonight?”       

Amethyst blinks several times, seeming utterly astonished.

Steven gasps, clapping his hands together. “Giant woman!”        

Sardonyx sits two of her hands down in front of Steven, grinning at him. “Oh my stars!” Steven happily jumps onto her hands, and she lifts him up to her face. “If it isn't Steven Universe! We finally meet. So, what do you think?” She spins her torso a full 360 degrees with her other pair of hands touching her hair. “Was I worth the wait?” She laughs. “What am I saying? Of course I was!”

Steven grins at her with starry eyes. “Wow, you're so articulated!”

Down on the ground Lapis chuckles. “What kind of complement is ‘articulated’?”

“Well, aren't you the sweetest little charmer!” She lifts her other pair of hands to Steven and squeezes him gently. “I could literally squish you right now! It would  _ not _ be hard.”

Steven laughs as she mock squishes him. “No…” He laughs again.             

Sardonyx brings him closer to her face “Sorry, I'm just so excited to be here. You see, I haven't exactly been myself lately.” She laughs.

From there Sardonyx summons her weapon- a giant war hammer- and demolishes the communication hub carefully, knocking pillars out of place as she does.

Amethyst groans, crossing her arms. “Ugh. Does she have to freaking  _ showboat _ ?”

Steven glances sideways at Amethyst. “I… I think it’s cool.”

“It IS cool!” Lapis grins. “I mean, look at her! How is that  _ not _ cool?” She pauses. “I mean, I’m not AT ALL interesting in doing the fusion thing…” She pauses, shuddering. “But I have to admit that this is really cool!” 

“I…” Amethyst kicks at the ground. “I wasn’t saying that it wasn’t cool. I was just saying that the showing off wasn’t necessary…”  

Sardonyx knocks one last piece from the tower, and it stops projecting light. She jumps down, landing in front of Steven, Lion, Lapis, and Amethyst. She spins her hammer away from her, which disappears in a cloud of dragonflies. “Now, just remember everybody. If you ever have need of the lovely Sardonyx, let Pearl and Garnet know, I'll be there in a flash.  _ Literally _ .”      

Sardonyx disappears in a flash of light, Garnet and Pearl replacing her, posed as if they were just dancing. The two look at each other and start giggling, Garnet spinning Pearl around.   

“Wooo!” Garnet cheers, which Steven quickly echos, darting over to hug Pearl and Garnet.

“You guys were amazing!”

Pearl blushes. “We were?” She laughs. “Oh, well that's good!”

“We were awesome!” Garnet grins.

Amethyst hangs her head, staying completely silent.

Pearl laughs happily. “Why don't we do that more often?”

They all return to the temple.

Over the next several days the the communication hub continuously gets rebuilt, and Pearl and Garnet continue fusing to destroy it, which just seems to bum out Amethyst more and more every time.

Steven pulls her aside after they get back to the temple one time after yet another mission spent sitting on the sidelines and watching Sardonyx save the day. “Are you okay Amethyst?”

Amethyst sighs. “Me? Oh, yeah, I’m fine. I’ve just realized that it doesn’t matter what universe I’m in, I’m just  _ always _ considered a screw up, even for things  **_I_ ** didn’t do…” She huffs, crossing her arms. “But hey, it’s not like that’s anything  _ new _ …”

“Hmmm.” Steven grins. “I have an idea!”

Later on, just Steven and Amethyst go to the communication hub. 

Steven claps his hands together. “Peridot's been back here a few times now!” He grins. “So the odds are good she'll come back again, right? Bam!” He slams his fist into his palm. “That's when we'll get her!”

Amethyst nods. “Yeah, bam!” She also slams her fist into her palm.

“Garnet will be so impressed!” Steven beams.

“And she’ll see that I’m not a screw up!” She smiles. “She’ll see that I’m just as good as Pearl…”

They sit watching for hours, bored out of their minds, when Steven spots something, and peers into the telescope he stuck in the rock they’re hiding behind.

“It's Peridot's escape pod! She… fixed it somehow?”

Amethyst frowns, shaking her head. “But I thought we had it?!” 

“Did she steal it from the temple?” Steven questions, still looking through the telescope. “Woah, she's lifting the pillar, and she's fixing the hub. What's she doing up there?” He fiddles with the telescope, zooming in his view. “Enhance!” He pauses. “H-hey, for some reason, Peridot kinda looks like… Pearl?"

Amethyst shoves Steven away from the telescope and peers in, seeing  _ Pearl _ , just like Steven said. “What the heck!?”

“That…” He crosses his arms, frowning. “Is Pearl, isn't it?"

“How  _ COULD _ she!?” Amethyst shakes her head. “This is just- just  _ UNBELIEVABLE _ !”

“H-hey!” Steven stammers. “Let's not be too hasty Amethyst. Maybe this has a completely rational explanation?”

“Yeah.” Amethyst scoffs. “And maybe my butt  _ ISN'T _ purple. Oh for crying out- SHE'S SERIOUSLY FIXING THE TOWER!”

“Maybe…” Steven bites his lip. “Maybe she just wants to see how it works?"

“Oh yeah? Well why don't we ask her then!?” Amethyst hisses through gritted teeth. Working off of the sheer instinct of her other self, she shapeshifts into into an eagle and grabs Steven by the shoulders, flying him over to confront Pearl midair. “What the HECK P!?” She screams at the escape pod.

Pearl stares out at them in silence, looking stunned and horrified.

Amethyst throws Steven into the cockpit with Pearl, then reverts to normal, climbing in herself, tears welling up in her eyes. “How… How could you!?” She screeches, and Pearl flinches away from her. “How could you do this to us? How could you do this to  _ Garnet _ !? How can you just... just  _ BETRAY _ her like that? Abuse the power you got together, for what? So you can be the hero?”

Pearl covers her mouth with both hands, shaking her head, tears in her eyes. “I-I-I-” She stammers.

Amethyst scowls. “You know what!? I don't need an answer. I know how this Pearl acts. How  _ you _ act! It's the same way  _ my _ Pearl acted, all those years ago. But then she GREW UP!” Amethyst screams. “Maybe you should try it some time!” She turns back into the eagle and flies off, in the general direction of the temple.

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Pearl sits, just staring at her pocket calendar, at the circled date just a week away, and sighs. “Ugh.  _ What _ am I  _ doing _ !?” She shakes her head, shoving the calendar roughly back into her purse. “It’s been  _ twelve years _ since Rose died, and I’m sitting here stressing out about her and Greg’s wedding anniversary…” She pulls her knees up to her chest. “What is  _ wrong _ with me!?”

A little nagging voice in the back of her head reminds her of something she’d rather forget. 

_ It’s not  _ **_just_ ** _ their anniversary. _

She twists her ring- a beautiful little white gold thing, the setting shaped like a rose, with a pearl in it- incredibly cheesy, but it’s beautiful. 

She can remember that day, back in high school, when Rose gave it to her like it was yesterday. 

_ “Pearl, I have a surprise for you!” Rose sat down across from Pearl at the kitchen table, grinning widely. _

_ “Uuuh. Can it wait?” She smiled sheepishly at Rose. “I’ve got to get my trig homework done.” _

_ Rose laughed, her dark auburn ringlets bouncing as she did. “It’s SATURDAY, Pearl, honestly.” _

_ Pearl groaned, putting her head in her hands. “It’s due on Monday, and I have ballet tomorrow? Remember?” _

_ Rose laughs, and scoots her chair around to table to be next to Pearl. “It’ll just take a moment.” She smiles sweetly. “I wanted to save this for our anniversary, but I’m just so excited to give it to you!” _

_ “Our… anniversary…?” Pearl laughs. “Rose, that’s not for another two weeks!” _

_ “Just humor me!” She pulls a small box out of her pocket, and Pearl’s breath catches in her throat. Rose opens the box, revealing the ring. “It’s a promise ring, Pearl. I love you, and I want to be with you forever, and I want  _ **_everyone_ ** _ to know that.” _

_Pearl fights back tears, and laughs joyfully. “I… I don’t know what to say!_ _A-a pearl on a rose though? A little cheesy, don’t you think?”_

_ Rose laughs, pecking Pearl on the cheek. “I thought it was cute!” _

Pearl blinks away tears. Of course, they  _ weren’t _ together forever, and Rose broke it off with Pearl just a little less than a year later.

Then years later she got married. On the anniversary of her and Pearl’s first date.

Pearl used to wonder constantly whether or not Rose even remembered that. 

She still wonders it sometimes, like right now. She screams, ripping her ring off and throwing it across the room, it hitting the wall, and clattering against the floor just as Garnet walks in. 

She glances down at the ring, then at Pearl. “Really, now?”

“Just leave me be Garnet…” She mutters, staring tearfully at the floor.

Garnet picks up the ring, and walks over, sitting down next to Pearl. “I'm not leaving you alone.”

Pearl sighs, wringing her hands. “I-I'm fine. Just a bit stressed.” She pauses. “Okay, a lot stressed, but I’m  _ fine _ .”

Garnet shakes her head. “I thought you said you were over this.” She pauses. “Over her.”

Pearl sighs, ducking her head. “Most of the time, I am.” 

“And the other times?”

Pearl looks up at Garnet, her eyes shining with tears. “I still love her, but I'm fine. I've moved on, but…” She shakes her head. “That doesn't mean it doesn't still hurt sometimes.”

Garnet smiles weakly, gently patting Pearl’s knee. “I know how you feel. I really do. Even after all these years, I still have all the cards she ever sent me. Birthdays, Christmas, sick days, everything.” She shakes her head. “I never let them go; I couldn't let them go. But Pearl, that album is on a shelf, not my finger. If you honestly want to get over this some day, you can't just keep reminding yourself of her every time you sit down to write.”

“The ring…” Pearl weaves her fingers together, stroking the empty spot where her ring usually is with her thumb. “It's a comfort most of the time. A happy reminder of the bond we once shared…” She grimaces, squeezing her hands tight. “But too much is happening right now, with th-the anniversary, and all this switching, and…” She sighs shakily. “Oh, Garnet, I'm really worried for my alternate's mental state!”

“So that's what this is about.” Garnet sighs, shaking her head, “Pearl, look at me. Listen closely to what I'm about to say to you.”

“O-okay.” Pearl stammers.

Garnet grips both of Pearl's shoulders “She. Is. Not. You. You are  _ better _ than her. You've done so much, you've grown so strong. You've moved on, you've  _ GROWN UP _ .” Garnet sighs. “She can't even begin to attest to that. Despite every setback, every obstacle, you've persevered, and done your absolute best to make a life for you and Steven.” She smiles slightly. “When you and Rose broke up, and when Rose died, Sapphire told me about what options laid before you, of what you could have become. There were so many chances for you to fall, for you to give up and do nothing with your life, or worse…” She takes off her glasses and looks steadily into Pearl’s eyes. “But every time. Every. Single. Time. You kept on moving, kept on fighting, and worked hard for your happy ending.” She smiles. “Pearl, you are one of the  _ strongest _ , most successful people I've ever met.  _ NEVER _ forget that.” She looks at the ring in her hand. “And know that you don't need this ring to remind you of the happy times you had with Rose. Because there is a living, breathing example of all the good Rose brought into the world, and you have the absolute honour of raising him into the beautiful little angel he was meant to be.” 

Pearl sniffles, tears openly streaming down her face now, and nods. “Th-thank you, Garnet.”

“No problem Pearl.” She pulls Pearl into a hug. “Anytime.” 

Pearl hugs Garnet back tightly, still crying. “I never would have made it through any of it without your friendship…” She murmurs, her voice cracking slightly.

Garnet frowns sadly behind Pearl’s back, and sighs. “I know… But…” She smiles, hugging Pearl tighter. “I wouldn't trade it for the world.”


	15. At a loss

### Chapter 13

#### At a Loss

Pearl and Steven run into the temple together, to see Amethyst already there, talking quietly to Garnet. 

Garnet looks over at Pearl and Steven. “Hello Pearl. Steven."

“H-h-hello G-Garnet.” Pearl stammers, looking like she's about to bolt back out the door, but Steven grabs her wrist, shaking his head slowly.

“Amethyst said you had something to tell me.” Garnet say directly to Pearl. “But, despite how angry she seems to be, she asked for you to say it yourself. So, what is it you have to say?”

“I… I…” Pearl shakes her head quickly.

“Pearl…” Steven murmurs. “You've got to tell her…”

“Pearl, I can see several ways this can end, and, for whatever reason, none of them end with any of us happy.” Garnet crosses her arms. “I'd rather at least know what's happening than not.”

Pearl hangs her head, wringing her hands. “I-I… I'm so sorry…” 

“Pearl…” Garnet frowns. “What-”

“Oh for crying out LOUD!” Amethyst shouts. “Peridot hasn't been fixing the tower.  _ SHE _ has.”

Garnet spins on a dime to stare at Amethyst. “What?” She spins back around to glare at Pearl. “WHAT!?” She growls through gritted teeth. “Pearl, what is she saying? Answer me. NOW.”

“I-I'm SORRY!” Pearl shouts, tears, streaming down her face. “It was just so much fun being Sardonyx with you!”

“You did this…” Garnet walks slowly towards Pearl. “You-” She slams her fist into wall next to Pearl, making a hole beside one that Jasper made previously “You  _ USED _ me. To have  _ FUN!? _ ”

“I-i-it really was Peridot the first time…”

“And you think that's makes it okay!?” Garnet screams. “You think there exists an explanation that can make  _ ANYTHING _ you've done  _ OKAY _ !? How can you value your own personal satisfaction over my own feelings? How can you betray us- Betray ME -to that extent for so long?”

“Garnet…” Steven murmurs hesitantly. “…Don't you think you're being a  _ little _ harsh?”

“Harsh!? Steven. I AM fusion.” She takes a deep breath. “It's my lifestyle, my philosophy, it's who I am. And you!” She stares down Pearl. “You just spat in the face of all of that!" She clenches her hands into shaking fists at her sides. “ Steven, go get Lion. We are going to the Communication hub. RIGHT NOW.”

“… O-okay.” Steven stammers, and their soon at the hub, Garnet glaring up at the beam of light, and everyone else hovering awkwardly behind her, Pearl hiding her face in shame.

“Amethyst. This ends here. Fuse with me, Sugilite is going to finish this nonsense.”

Amethyst looks at Garnet, slowly shaking her head. “Wait… No.” She shakes her head again, more vigorously. “I  _ wanted _ to fuse with you, but not like  _ this _ .”

“What!?” Garnet snaps. “What are you talking about?”

“Yes, you have every right to be mad- I’m ticked off, and you should be madder than me, but…” She lets out a slow breath, looking over her shoulder at Pearl. “Do you really thinking fusing with me in front of Pearl  _ now _ is going to make  _ ANYTHING _ better?”

“I…” Garnet looks behind her at the other gems. “I…” She screams in anger, summoning her gauntlets. “I can't trust ANY of you gems.” Amethyst winces, taking a step back away from Garnet. “Steven, get Lion to take everyone home. I'm doing this myself. Don't wait up, I'll find my own way back.” She walks over and starts brutally punching out the supports for the tower, the crashes ringing out in the silence. 

The others all quickly go back to the temple, Pearl tearing to the warp pap and warping away the moment they get back. 

Steven flops onto the couch, where Lapis was the entire time they were gone. “Uuuugh. This is REALLY bad.” He moans. 

“I… know it’s not at all my business, but…” Lapis frowns. “Your version of Pearl seems to have some SERIOUS issues.”

Steven groans again, putting his face into his hands.

It’s not until the next morning that Garnet walks into the temple. Steven looks up from his cereal. “Uhm. Good Morning Garnet.”

Garnet looks around the room, then goes to sit down next to Steven. “Good Morning.”

“So. Uh. Uhm.” He glances down at his bowl. “Would you like some cereal?” 

“No thank you.”

The warp activates, and Pearl is standing on it. “Hello-”

Garnet stands up and walks into temple without a word.

Pearl blinks several times, clearly bewildered. “Uhm.” She stares at the temple door for several moments. “Did I do something to offend her?”

Amethyst sits up on the couch, narrowing her eyes at Pearl. “You haven't seriously forgotten, have you P?”

Pearl stares at Amethyst. “… Let me rephrase: Did the  _ other me _ do something to offend her?”

“… Oh. You switched.” Steven sits his spoon down. “That's… timing.” 

Lapis shakes her head. “Ooooh yeah, you offended her BIG Time.”

“… Lapis? What are you doing here? I thought you didn't like us.” She shakes her head. “And what did… she do? I mean Connie did say that she was…” Pearl clears her throat awkwardly, and glances over at Steven. “Nevermind. That's not important.”

"I don't have a problem with you, really.” Lapis shrugs. “It's my bosses that don't like you. Can't speak much for the me from this universe though.”

“Oh…” Pearl murmurs. “You're switched. I… can see how this may get confusing.” She pauses. “Seriously though, what did the other me do?”

Amethyst sighs. “Tricked Garnet to fuse. It… was all kinds of messed up, but…” She frowns. “I honestly think Pearl was just trying to bond with her more closely. It's messed up, yeah, but… I just kinda feel bad for her, y'know?”

Pearl frowns, staring at the warp pad, which she’s still standing on. “Wow. Connie wasn't kidding…” 

Several days pass with Garnet not even willing to talk to Pearl, and she leaves with Steven and his dad to go to Keystone.

She even completely blocked Pearl out when she tried to say goodbye. And Pearl, utterly defeated in her failed attempts at contact, sits down on the couch, pulling her knees up to her chest, fighting back tears.

It’s not until early the next morning that she’s disturbed, Amethyst sitting down next to her. “P? Are you alright?”

“No!” Pearl immediately snaps, before taking a shaky breath. “Sorry, it’s just that… she… she won't even listen to a word I say. Does she even realize I'm switched?”

“I don't think so, P, since if we try and bring you up, she tells us not too.” Amethyst shakes her head. “It's… frustrating.”

“Ugh.” Pearl shuts her eyes tight, massaging her temples. “This is getting overwhelming…”

“You're fine Pearl. You didn't do anything wrong, don't let it get to you.” She smiles. “It's not like our Garnet is mad.”

“It's not just that. All of this…” She lets out a slow breath, twirling her hands in the air in front of her. “All this switching and the magic aliens, and…” She puts her face in her hands. “It's too much. I don't know what her life is like, and she doesn't know mine, and we're just supposed to… live each others’? I mean, s-she actually almost put me in the hospital last time when we switched because she wasn't eating… like, at all.”

“P, you-”

“Don't  _ even _ point out that I've done that to myself in the past!” Pearl snaps. “Not for almost a decade now!” She takes a deep breath. “Once Rose was gone, I started to actually  _ DEAL _ with my issues. I'm  _ far _ from perfect, but I seem to be better off than her.”

Amethyst is silent for a moment. “…You don't know the half of it P…”

“… What?”

“Apparently back during their war for Earth the other you would regularly sacrifice her life for Rose, and then…” Amethyst rubs the back of her head. “Geeze, she tried to teach behavior like that to  _ Connie _ .”

Pearl’s eyes go wide with horror, and she stares silently at Amethyst.  

“… Crap. P, I shouldn't have said that.” Amethyst shakes her head. “I mean, we worked through that problem but… I mean cut her some slack, P. All sorts of things are screwed up in this world. I apparently came out of a hole in a cliff. You, Garnet, and Rose fought in a war for Earth against your own people because the Earth was like… dying or something. They regularly fight monsters that used to be people like us. And more!”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better!?” Pearl screeches. 

“No!” Amethyst snaps. “It's just… I wanted you to know that it isn't weird that you don't like yourself here. I… I don't think I like myself here either, from what I know.”

“It's not that I don't like her, exactly. It’s just that… She’s me. Me from twelve years ago. I'm… concerned. Why does she seem so much worse off than me when she has an eternity deal with her issues?”

“I don't know P. All I do know is that looking at how she acts... It really does bring back some sad memories, and I feel just as bad for her now as I did for you then. I know this must be hard, seeing yourself like that again, even if it isn't really you.” She grabs Pearl’s hands. “But, I just want you to know that she's hurting. Just as much as you hurt then. And I want you to be aware of that, before you judge her. She can get better. And I really, REALLY hope she does. But for now? She isn't you, P. You're better than that. You were better than her when you got your life on track, and you're better than her now. Remember that.”

“I… Thank you, Amethyst. That’s  _ twice _ this week I’ve been told that…” She sighs. “I just hope Garnet will forgive her for what she did. And I hope she can forgive herself. She deserves some self-kindness. I know I did.”

Amethyst smiles. “Let me make you some tea…”

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“Peridot has to be  _ somewhere _ …” Pearl mutters to herself, pacing near a random warp pad. “I-if I catch her, i-it might be enough to make things up to Garnet…” She wipes at her eyes. “I’ve  _ got to _ make things up to Garnet. I have t-” 

She surroundings shift, and she’s sitting on the couch in her living room. 

A moment after all of what just happened finally hits her, she breaks down, bursting into tears, hiding her face in her hands. 

“… Pearl?”

Pearl freezes at the sound of Amethyst’s voice, and stops crying at once, just hiding her face in her hands.

“… P? Hey, are you okay?” Amethyst’s footsteps can be clearly heard coming from the kitchen to where Pearl is on the couch. “Why'd you suddenly cry? Is it about Rose and Greg's anniversary? Garnet said you might get upset about it.”

Pearl lowers her hands, squinting through teary eyes at her. “R-Rose and Greg's… No!” She snaps, scowling. “For Heaven's sake Amethyst, Rose and Greg's anniversary isn't for another two months!”

Amethyst blinks several times. “Oh. You switched. Hey P, how's our universe?”

“It's uhm.” She fidgets. “It's fine enough.” She laughs tensely, blatantly lying.  “Nothing much has changed since you were last there. We still haven't caught Peridot again.”

Amethyst narrows her eyes and crosses her arms. “Nuh uh. No changing the subject, P. I know your cries, and that was an ‘I messed up bad and I don't know how to fix it’-cry. So spill.”

“I-its nothing!” Pearl crosses her arms. “Isn't this my house? What are you even doing here?”

Amethyst shrugs. “Eh. My shifts end, like, suuuuuper early. And your house has better food.”

“… Amethyst. Go home.”

“Nah, I don't really fe-” She stops in the middle of a word. “Hey! You almost changed the subject!”

“No, I was just telling you to go home.” Pearl recrosses her arms with extra mock annoyance. “This is technically my house, so I have every right to kick you out!”

“Not until you tell me what happened!” Amethyst insists.

“N-nothing happened!” Pearl stammers, wringing her hands. “Honest!”

“Like heck it didn't! P, I  _ KNOW _ you're upset.” She huffs. “If you don't want to explain it all to me, then fine. Use broad strokes. Just let me help you girl! It's what I'm here for.”

Pearl is silent for a moment, and closes her eyes slowly. “Garnet is angry with me.”

“… And?” Amethyst gestures for Pearl to continue. “You've got give me at least some hint as to why? Did you steal her cookies? What?”

“…You know very well that I don't eat Amethyst.”

Amethyst groans. “Then what was it!? What even gets Garnet mad? What could you possibly have- Oh.” Amethyst frowns, her brow furrowed. “This has something to do with fusion, doesn't it?”

“W-why would you think th-that?” Pearl stutters, shaking her head. “Garnet doesn't get upset about  _ just _ fusion…”

“Which, of course, means you must've done something to  _ REALLY _ offend the idea  _ behind _ it too.” Amethyst sighs. “Garnet may be a mountain. But insulting fusion? That's her dynamite.”

“I n-never insulted fusion!” She fidgets slightly, twisting her hands. “I mean sh-she might have taken it that way…”

“Spill. It. NOW.”

“I-I'd rather not.” 

Amethyst sighs. “Fine. Just know this, P. Whatever you did? It was probably kinda your fault. But that's okay!” She lets out a slow breath. “Obviously you feel bad about it, and obviously you want to fix it. But losing your mind over it isn't helping.”

“How could I even hope to fix it when she wouldn’t even look at me the last time I saw her…” 

“You're not supposed to!” Amethyst huffs. “That isn't your job-.” She sighs, pulling on her hair. “Look. I know you, P. You're gonna go do something stupid and over the top to try and fix this. It's gonna be sad, scary, and more than a little dangerous to both our health and yours. I just want you to know… I'm there for you girl. Also, I just want it to go on record that I TRIED to stop you.”

“… What in heavens do you think I'm going to do? W-we aren't even in the same universe as G-Garnet.” Pearl rubs her thumbs against her fingertips, trying to stay calm. “I couldn't get her to f-forgive me from here even if I tried. I-it's not like capturing this universe's Peridot will do me any good! Besides, she's easy to capture."

"I know you can't do anything from here. But I know you really, REALLY want to. And I know the MINUTE you get home, you're going to do something we'll all regret."

“… I'm s-still not sure what you think I'm going to do.” Pearl sighs. “All I was thinking is that I had an idea for how we might track Peridot…”

Amethyst sighs, looking away from Pearl. “Sure you do, Pearl. And, once you catch her, that'll fix eeeeeverything.” She stands up. “I'm out, this is a trainwreck ready to happen. Let me know when you're ready to pretend to be a human being. I'll be around.” She walks across the room, and hops out the window, leaving Pearl alone with her thoughts.


	16. Boxing up your feelings

### Chapter 14

#### Boxing up your feelings

Steven continues rambling on about his cartoon to Pearl, Amethyst mostly ignoring him and laying back on the couch. 

“And that's why I think you're sad pear, Pearl!”

Pearl blinks several times, jumps to her feet, walking into her room at the temple. 

Amethyst sits up. “Uh, P, where are you goi-” She cuts herself off as Pearl walks into the temple. “Oh. I think she switched back. My Pearl doesn’t like her room here. Too wet, I guess.”

“I… think that's a good thing.” Steven smiles hopefully. “It means her and Garnet can work things out now!”

Amethyst shakes her head. “I… don't think it's that simple, Steven.”

Pearl comes back out of her room with Peridot's escape pod and begins hooking it up to the warp pad.

Steven walks over, forcing a smile. “So, uhm, Pearl.” He glances at the escape pod. “Whatcha doin’?”

“I think I have a way to track Peridot should she warp anywhere.” Pearl mutters, not looking up from her work. 

“That's… cool.” He smiles at Pearl. “Though she was pretty easy to capture when she was switched.”

“Well, yes,” Pearl looks up at Steven, and sighs. “But she's not switched, and we don't want her to cause anymore trouble. So waiting for her to switch again isn't really a viable option, especially as we have no immediate way to know if she’s has.” She looks back down at her work.

Amethyst stands up and walks over, stopping next to the warp pad. “So, how's my home?”

Pearl looks up from the pod again, frowning at Amethyst. “Do you frequently come through my window to raid my fridge?”

“…Yes.” Amethyst answers slowly. “Yes I do.”

“Normal.” Pearl goes back to connecting the escape pod and warp pad.

Garnet comes out of temple, and stops, staring at Pearl. “What are you doing?”

“Oh!” Pearl jumps to her feet, clapping her hands together. “You're talking to me again!” She forces a smile. “I think I've figured out a way to track Peridot through the warp system!”

Garnet is silent for a moment, frowning. “You were switched at some point, weren't you?”

Pearl ducks her head. “Y-yes.” She stammers. “For a few days. I just got back. D-did you not notice?”

“Mmm.” Garnet crosses her arms, staring down at the escape pod.  

“Uhm.” Pearl weaves her fingers together. “W-well if I'm right, by using Peridot's escape pod, I-I can track her down any time she warps.” She smiles nervously at Garnet. 

“…Wooow.” Amethyst sighs. “Man, you can just  _ feel _ the tension."

The escape pod lights up.

Pearl whirls towards it, a wide forced grin on her face. “Ah! Ah! See!” She interfaces with the pod and projects a globe from her gem, one spot marked on it. “She's going to the Galaxy Warp. We can catch her!” She grins at Garnet, who says nothing.

“Well…” Steven smiles slightly. “At least she’s here now.”

“…And that's a good thing?” Amethyst responds after a moment, standing with her arms crossed.

“Uhh… Maybe?” Steven shrugs. 

They go to the galaxy warp- where Peridot is trying to reassemble the homeworld warp pad- and a brief fight ensues, but the homeworld gem makes quick work of the crystal gems and escapes, capitalizing on a general lack of cohesion between the team, particularly that of Pearl, her zealous attempts at capturing Peridot only serving to get in the way of her other teammates. After the utter mess that was that encounter, the Crystal gems warp back to the temple.

“Okay, I realize that was a bit of a fiasco.” Pearl laughs nervously, wringing her hands. “But there's a silver lining to this!” She steps up to the escape pod. “Now we know for sure that we can track her every movement! Whenever she uses the warp system, her escape pod will instantly detect exactly where she is.” She forces a grin. “It's only a matter of time until we catch her again, and when we do, we'll be able to close this chapter and finally move on!” She turns to Garnet, smiling nervously. “Right?”

Garnet is silent as Pearl stares at her, visibly apprehensive. 

Amethyst sighs heavily, scowling. “Look, isn't there something that maybe the two of you  _ might _ need to talk about?”

The escape pod lights up, and Pearl- like before- interfaces with it, happy for the sudden distraction and again projecting a globe with a marker on it.  “It's Peridot. She's using the warps right now. Look! This is where she is. “ Pearl smiles. “We got her for sure this time.” Pearl starts walking towards the Warp Pad. “If she thinks she's got the upper hand, then she's got another thing coming. And that's us! Right, Garnet?”

Garnet follows Pearl to the warp pad, saying nothing, but seeming tense.

“Well…” Steven smiles. “at least Pearl's optimistic.”

Amethyst sighs. “It won't help.” She shakes her head. “If this Garnet is anything like mine, she could hand Peridot over on a silver platter, but it wouldn't  make up for the stunt she pulled to get Garnet to fuse with her.”

“Well it needs fixing…” Steven mutters, walking to the warp pad. 

They warp out, to a tropical location near an old gem ship. 

“Woah…” Steven murmurs, staring out at the intergalactic vessel.

“Ha!” Pearl claps her hands together, grinning widely. “She's desperate. Look at this! She's cornered herself in there!”

“Mmm.” Garnet frowns.

“We've got her just where we want her!” 

Steven looks up at Pearl. “What is—?”

Pearl crouches down next to Steven, grabbing his shoulders, grinning excitedly in a very fake-seeming way. “Excellent question, Steven!” She cuts him off before he can even finish asking. “What we see before us is an ancient interplanetary gem vessel.” She projects an image of several ships like the one in front of them approaching and landing on Earth. “Homeworld Gems used these ships to travel across the cosmos and land here on Earth before the Warp Pads were built. But these ships landed here so long ago that there's no way they can be functional. Peridot's running out of options!”

“Pearl!” Garnet snaps. “We can't waste time, let's focus on the task at-”

Pearl stands up. “Ah, yes! The task at hand!” She darts ahead. “No more dawdling, let's go get Peridot, and actually keep her this time!”

Amethyst sighs. “Seriously! God, it’s like it’s twelve years ago all over again…”

“…Wait... I’m twelve.” 

Amethyst blinks several times at Steven. “Yeah.” She crosses her arms, looking vaguely uncomfortable. “We should- uh- follow Garnet and Pearl. They’ve already gone ahead of us.”

Steven and Amethyst quickly catch up with the other gems, entering the ship, overgrown with plant life and utterly derelict on the inside, and they approach a control panel.

Steven looks around. “It's more like a greenhouse than a spaceship.”

“Looks like Earth won this battle…” Amethyst murmurs, staring around the ship in barely hidden wonder. “Though… if this is what  _ old  _ gem stuff looks like…” She laughs weakly. “What does the new stuff look like?”

“Giant space hands.” Steven murmurs offhandedly. 

Suddenly, the gem projector on the control panel activates. The group stops in their tracks, as the projector reveals the familiar visage of Peridot's face, grinning wickedly at the lot of them.

Peridot laughs maniacally. “You gems really are as dull as dirt!”

“You're the dull one if you think you can fly this wreck!” Pearl snaps, crossing her arms. 

Peridot is silent for a moment, and Pearl's voice can be heard vaguely echoing in the background.

“…What?” Peridot scowls. “Can you speak louder? Some of these communicators are gunked up.”

Steven grabs one of the microphones, brushes the plants off of it, and clears his throat, speaking into it. “Pearl says, 'You're the dull one if you think you can fly this wreck!’”

Peridot is silent for a moment again, Steven's voice now vaguely echoing.

Peridot laughs, throwing her head back. “Fly!? I'm not using this vessel to fly!” She cackles. “I'm using it to trap you!” The entryway to the ship snaps closed behind them. “Isn't this nice... no more Crystal Gems running around, messing with my plans, destroying my things… looks like I've got you just where I want you. How does it feel to be so easily outsmarted, you clods!?”

Pearl’s eyes go wide, and she stares over her shoulder at the closed entrance, shaking her head. “No…”

Amethyst steps forward, grabbing a microphone. “Hey, uh, this is Amethyst, I don't appreciate being called a clod, a pebble, or any of the other stupid geological insults you lo-”

“Enough talk!” Peridot shouts over Amethyst. “Prepare yourselves for annihilation! Hi-yah!” Peridot presses something out of sight, causing the ship to groan slightly before stopping. The group looks around in worry, but nothing appears activated. “…Hyah!” Looking very annoyed, Peridot presses another button, activating lasers, which had been covered in moss. The laser shooters extend towards the Gems, glowing a light pink colour. “Aha! It works! Yes!” The lasers start firing at the Gems. “Die, die, die, die, die, die, die!” Peridot screams.

The gems try their best to avoid the lasers, and Steven summons his shield above his head. “Hey guys, over here!”

Under the cover of Steven’s shield, they make their way out of the room, and into a little hall. The shield vanishes, and Steven pants, exhausted. “Three shields in one day! Not too b-” Spikes shoot up all around the hallway, almost hitting Steven, but the gems managed to dodge them, taking off down the hall. 

“SPIKES! How do you like my spikes!?” Peridot’s voice rings out loudly, and, suddenly, the group sees her at the end of the hall.

“PERIDOT!” Pearl screams, and charges forward towards the seemingly-distracted gem- ignoring Garnet yelling after her to stop. She slashes futily at it, but it’s quickly revealed to just be a hologram, though this does little to calm her, and she continues to slash at in anger, almost in tears.  

“Heheheh, you idiot.” The hologram snickers. 

“Pearl, stop.” Garnet mutters flatly. “That isn't helping.”

“I have to do something!” Pearl wails. “I-I can't believe I walked us right into Peridot's trap.” She shakes her head. “This is all my…” The Peridot hologram suddenly disappears as the ship begins to shake furiously. “… fault?”

The floor collapses into a funnel beneath the Gems, causing them all to fall down into it. Steven falls past Amethyst, who summons two whips; grabbing Steven with one, and a branch on the roof with the other. “I got you Steven!” 

“Thanks Amethyst!” He shouts up, then gasps, looking down at Garnet and Pearl at the bottom in a small chamber. “Are you guys okay?”

“We're fine!” Garnet shouts up.

Suddenly, the floor closes up above Garnet and Pearl, trapping them within the chamber.

“…Crud…” Amethyst drops her and Steven down, and into a room with some crystal gears and a large screen, which displays an image of Garnet and Pearl in the small chamber, frantically attacking the walls. 

“We gotta get 'em out!” Steven glances between the screen and the spot on the floor. “Amethyst, what should we…” Steven trails off, looking panicked, the end of his question obvious, and the answers equally unhelpful. 

“Garnet…” Pearl sighs. “I'm sorry!”

Amethyst stares at the screen “Wait a sec…” She murmurs as an aside to Steven. 

“…Things weren't supposed to turn out this way.” Pearl says, her voice quavering. 

Garnet punches the wall again. “We'll get out of here somehow.”

Pearl sighs, hanging her head. “That's not what I mean…” She wrings her hands. “I really wanted to catch Peridot to make up for what I did…” Garnet’s pauses her assault, her gauntlets vanishing, and she turns to stare at Pearl. “I wanted to prove to you that… that everything could go back to normal…”

“Catching Peridot won't make things go back to normal.” She shakes her head. “This isn't about Peridot. It never was.”

“Yes!” Amethyst claps her hands together excitedly, looking between Steven and the screen. “They’re actually talking about it!”

Steven smiles. “Now they can finally work things out!”

Suddenly the gears start to turn, causing the walls of the chamber that Garnet and Pearl are in to close in on them.

Amethyst’s eyes widen. “Not if they get crushed!”

Garnet and Pearl start pushing on the walls, though this doesn’t appear to  _ do _ anything.

Pearl is panting and on the verge of tears. “Please! Tell me!” She pleads. “How can I make you forgive me!?”

“You can't!” Garnet replies immediately. “You lied to me, and then wouldn't even admit it when confronted with your actions!”  She growls. “You need to learn that there are consequences!”

“I'm sorry!” Pearl squeaks.  “I… I couldn't help myself!”

Garnet kicks the wall on Pearl's side, in an attempt to slow them down. Amethyst and Steven, meanwhile, are busy panicking about what’s happening below them. “I don't want to hear your excuses!”

“But it's  _ true _ !” Pearl says, her voice pained. “No matter how hard I try to be strong like you…” She sighs. “I'm just a Pearl. I'm useless on my own.” Tears start streaking down her face. “I need someone to tell me what to do…”

Amethyst gets an idea, and pulls out a whip, swinging it up, and tangling it within the gears to stop their movement, Steven, eager to aid in saving his friend’s lives, grabs her arms, and helps her hold it in place as the gears still try to turn. 

In the chamber the walls stop moving. Pearl hugs herself, clutching her elbows. “… When we fuse, I can feel what it's like to be you. Confident and secure, and complete. You're  _ perfect _ .” She lets out a shaky breath. “You’re whole. Undamaged. Everything I wish I was…” She hangs her head. “Everything I  _ think _ the other me is…” She sighs. “Instead I spent the entire time I was switched obsessing over catching Peridot, when I could have tried to enjoy her life. You… You're the perfect relationship, you're always together, I just…” She sniffles. “I wanted to be a part of that. To be a part of perfect.”

“You're wrong!” Garnet snaps. “I'm not as strong as you think! I fell apart over this. I was so caught up in my anger I never even noticed you were switched!” She clenches her teeth. “Ruby and Sapphire were in turmoil over how you deceived me. I... came undone…”

Amethyst looks over her shoulder at Steven with wide eyes. “Woah, that really happened?”

Steven nods. “Mmmhmmm.”

“It's not easy being in control, Pearl.” She shakes her head. “I have weaknesses too. Everyone does. But I  _ choose _ not to let them consume me. I struggle to stay strong because I know the impact I have on everyone.” She sighs. “Please understand, Pearl. You have an impact too. There are times when I look up to  _ you _ for strength. You are  _ your own gem _ . You control  _ your _ destiny. Not me, not  _ Rose _ , not Steven.” She lets out a slow breath. “But you must choose to be strong, so we can move forward. So I can trust you again.”

Pearl is silent for a moment, then nods slowly. “…I understand.” She takes a shaky breath, and nods with more determination. “I can't give up anymore!”

Garnet smiles, nodding. “Good.”

“That’s…  _ really _ good.” Amethyst smiles weakly. “Maybe now she’ll actually get better, like my Pearl did...” The whip snaps, Steven and Amethyst falling backward from their remaining momentum, causing the walls to start to close in on Pearl and Garnet again. 

“Pearl, there's only one way out of this!” 

Pearl smiles at Garnet. “Only if you're okay with it.”

Garnet nods.

Steven and Amethyst are panicking, running back and forth when the floor suddenly breaks open, as Sardonyx jumps out of the hole, using her war hammer as a drill. She then immediately unfuses into Garnet and Pearl. The two look at each other for a moment, and smile. 

After that they find Peridot, and nearly catch her, but she escapes by… detaching her own foot, of all things. 

Amethyst starts to vaguely wonder if this Peridot’s legs are prothstetic too, when the world around her shifts, and she finds herself at home. Well, actually  _ Pearl’s _ home, but same difference. 

“Uh. Hi Pearl. The other you and Garnet worked things out. I’ve…” She trails off, thinking about the things that Garnet said to that Pearl. “I’ve gotta go.”

“Wait!? What!? They worked things out!? What happened!? Amethyst, you can’t just leave me with so little info!” But Amethyst is already climbing out the window. 

“I’ll tell ya later Pearl! I’ve gotta talk to Garnet!” She pauses, leaning back into the window. “Promise, I’ll tell you later. But it’s kinda a big deal.” She walks off, and makes her way to Garnet’s house, knocking on the door. 

After a few moments, Garnet opens the door, dressed in a white tank top and grey sweatpants; indicating that she was probably just down in her basement gym. 

“Amethyst.”

“Hey, Garnet. I switched back.” She smiles. “Can I come in?”

Garnet sighs, but steps aside to let Amethyst into her home. “Is something the matter?” She pauses. “Did  _ you _ find out something bad about the other you?”

Amethyst shakes her head. “No, no, nothing like that. Nothing is wrong, I…” Amethyst runs her hands through her hair. “I just wanted to talk to you.”

“Hmmm?” Garnet sits down on her couch, and Amethyst sits down next to her.

“I guess…” Amethyst sighs. “Garnet… Thanks.” She smiles. “Thanks for being you.”

“…Your welcome?” Garnet replies, confusion colouring her tone.

“I know we ask a lot from you, and we don't really think about how you feel a lot of the time.” She bites her lip. “And I just…” Amethyst leans forward and hugs Garnet, at a loss for any further words. “You're awesome. You're awesome just the way you are.”

Garnet, also at a loss for words, simply hugs her back, a warm smile spreading across her face, as she chuckles lightly. “Good to know Amethyst… Thanks.”


	17. Shifting tides

### Chapter 15

### Shifting Tides 

Hatred.

Pure, raw hatred.

That is the only emotion that surges through the mind and body of Jasper as she drags herself across the ocean floor. Having been tossed clear across the horizon, the homeworld gem had spent the last solid few weeks simply trudging her way across the bottom of the Atlantic. Never stopping, never wavering, all fueled by the burning desire to  _ destroy  _  those who had spent so long demeaning her station and treating her like nothing.

_I HATE Lapis. I HATE Rose Quartz. I HATE Lapis. I HATE Rose Quartz._ _I HATE Lapis. I HATE Rose Quartz._

This mantra of madness played out ceaselessly within the orange combat gem’s head, its perpetual ultimatum the only thing continuing to drive her, all the way back to the beachside, to that wretched human hive called Beach City.

It is a balmy noontime sun which beats down upon the beachside when the water begins to part a few feet away from the coast. Slowly, deliberately, and with unspeakable purpose, Jasper rises from the depths, covered in more than a small amount of seaweed and detritus, and looking a step above death as she unceasingly marches towards the coastline. Finally, at last, the homeworld gem had reached her destination. The theatre for her revenge.

“Finally…” The gem huffs, her purposeless lungs once again growing used to the taste of air. “Now, it’s time to END Lapis. And that little  _ deserter  _ Rose Qua-” And then, just as the warrior gem had brought her bloodlust to a fever pitch, the world shifts, and she is at the beachside no longer. She blinks in bewilderment, and looks around at the suburban setting around her. “What the…” 

She wanders around, trying to even figure out where she is, when a familiar head of blue hair in the edge of her vision catches her eye. She whirls around, glaring at Lapis Lazuli. “ _ Lapis _ .” She hisses, her burning gaze focused solely on the petite blue haired figure.

Jasper creeps closer, but not too close, wanting to follow the other gem to the Crystal Gem’s base. 

“No, I’m serious, I know it’s a weird question Greg, but did I do anything strange recently?”

The balding human Lapis is talking to shrugs. “Not that I saw, unless totally vanishing for a few weeks counts.”

Lapis sighs. “Yeah, I’d say that counts. Thanks Greg…” She walks off, and Jasper creeps after her, and to some apartment building-  _ Peridot’s _ \- a small voice says in Jasper’s head, but she brushes off the nonsense thought and follows her into a building, listening from the end of the hall as Lapis knocks on a door. 

After a moment the door opens. “Who is it and what the h-” Peridot’s nasally voice is unmistakable, and she cuts herself off in the middle of the sentence. “Lapis!”

“I’m back.” 

“ _ Obviously _ !” Peridot screeches. “You had  _ totally _ vanished while you were switched!”

Lapis sighs. “Ugh. I heard. What did your alternate do with you?” After a moment of silence, Lapis suddenly laughs. “That bad, huh?” She snickers again. “Sheesh, your face is red as a tomato!”

“… SHE TACKLED PEARL!” Peridot groans. “She actually  _ tackled _ Pearl and accused her of hypnotizing me or something…”

Lapis laughs again. “Now what would  _ possibly _ result in her thinking  _ that _ ?”

Peridot sputters. “I don’t know what you’re implying Lapis, but I’m sure it’s not true!”

“I’m just implying that you  _ looooo- _ ”

“SHUT UP!” Peridot shouts. “That is simply untrue! I have absolutely NO romantic feelings for Pearl! None! She is an enemy! A-an annoying clod!”

Lapis cracks up. “ _ Enemy _ ? Oh no, she’s trying to protect her late best friend’s husband’s property from said best friend’s sisters who we happen to work for! Ooooo. How terriiiible!” She rolls her eyes. “I mean, the other you throwing around a word like enemy actually makes sense. There’s like… a war or something? But you?” Lapis laughs lightly. “Pearl is  _ not _ your enemy.”

“I-But-She… Fine,  _ enemy _ is a bit of an exaggeration, but how  _ dare _ you imply that I have romantic feelings for her!”

“Well, if you don’t, I guess you wouldn’t mind if I took a look at your jou-”

“NO!” Peridot suddenly shouts. “I-I mean, no no no, I have- uh- some top secret schematics in it.”

“Oh, I’m very su-”

“LOOK OUT!”

Peridot’s warning came a few seconds too late, as Jasper, running full force across the hall, rugby tackles Lapis across the remainder of it, landing her near the end of the long carpeted area.

Lapis, nursing the now fairly bruised shoulder which took the brunt of her fall, looks up at her attacker with a mix of confusion and abject fear. “J-J-Jasper!?”

“In the flesh, you little deserter!” The warrior walks ever closer to Lapis, who quickly falters up and begins backing further towards the end of the hall. “You thought you could get away with it, didn’t you? Thought you could just throw me into the ocean and forget I existed? Well, there’s no water around  _ now _ , is there? Now die!” Jasper swings her right fist in a long arc, aiming to sideswipe her thinner opponent. But Lapis manages to duck under the swing, with her assaulter fist instead planting itself firmly into a nearby wall. Jasper sneers. “You’re only prolonging the inevitable, you little clod. Just wait till I- Agh! How do I- Can’t move-” Jasper grumbles as she struggles to remove her fist from the wall it had been embedded in, her mind evidently failing to adjust to her relatively weak human strength. 

Lapis, seeing an opportunity, rushes forward, one of her hands curled up into a fist as she shot it forward, squarely at Jasper’s jaw… An act which only managed to injure the lanky girl’s hand, and further enrage her opponent. 

“That all you got?” Jasper speaks in muffled tones, Lapis’s hand still firmly embedded in her cheek. A swift kick to the torso by Jasper is all that was needed to throw off the weaker woman, Lapis landing unceremoniously on the ground, clutching at her abdomen as all the air in her lungs had summarily evacuated her chest cavity. Jasper, finally managing to remove her hand from the wall after leveraging her foot against it, slowly advances on her opponent.

Lapis attempts to crawl away, more so out of instinct than any real plan, only to be kicked in the side and turned onto her back, a weighty foot being planted firmly on her sternum thereafter. Jasper leans into her downed opponent’s view, smiling viciously.

“Nowhere to run, little stone. Now is the time for me to  _ finally _ get my reven-GAH!” Jasper’s monologue is cut short by the sudden arrival of Peridot, who jumps onto her shoulders in an attempt to disorient the burly gem-person. Jasper, suddenly distracted, removes her foot from on top of Lapis’s chest, spinning around wildly in an attempt to reach her sudden assaulter. “Get- Off- Of- ME!” Jasper finally manages to grab onto Peridot’s arm, and swings her mercilessly into a wall, cracking the paint behind it and causing Peridot to land against it, yelling in pain.

“Arrrhhhgg! You’ll… You’ll never get away with this…” Peridot mutters, trying desperately to dissuade Jasper from her eventual course.

“Oh really? Last I remember,  _ I _ was one of Jessamine’s most trusted right hand enforcers. Whilst  _ you _ were some namby-pamby pencil-pusher, who was equally as replaceable as the paper she wrote on!” Jasper looked confused for a moment, suddenly wondering where the hell the information she just spouted came from. “...Wait. What?”

***WHAM!***

Jasper’s world suddenly grew dark as Lapis, capitalizing on the momentary distraction and wielding a now fairly well-dented fire extinguisher, swung hard against the back of the warrior’s head, knocking her cleanly unconscious.

“I ALREADY TOLD YOU! I QUIT! REMEMBER IT THIS TIME!” Lapis Lazuli shouts at the now heavily knocked-out form of Jasper, her voice as angry as it was triumphant.

Peridot struggles to her feet, glaring at Jasper’s unconscious body. “I swear if she damaged my legs, I’m going to sue her…”

Lapis chuckles. “Maaaaybe we should call the police? She  _ did _ just assault both of us.”

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“No, Jesse, I’m serious, she’s dropped off the grid. I’m still looking, but I think we’re gonna need another way into Universe.” She sighs. “I’ll call you again when I have more info.” She hangs up her phone, shoving it in her pocket, when- in the blink of an eye- she’s suddenly standing on the beach, dripping wet and covered in ocean detritus. “WHAT IN GOD’S NAME!?” She shouts at the top of her lungs, looking around the beach in bewilderment. 

Her loud shout  _ quickly _ got the attention of Pearl and Steven, who were nearby, looking out over the ocean and quietly talking amongst themselves, but Pearl looks  _ weird _ , with even paler than usual skin, and what looks like a rock in her forehead. 

In one move Pearl pushes Steven behind her and pulls a spiraled spear out of her head, taking an attacking stance-

WAIT. WHAT!? Jasper stares dumbfounded for a moment while Steven runs up to the Mano- A GIANT EIGHT-ARMED STATUE!?

She looks wildly between Pearl and the statue, and she visible sees Pearl relax as Steven runs back out with Garnet and Amethyst- both who also look weird in completely different ways.

“I think she’s switched. Should be an easy fight.”

Jasper scowls at Pearl.  _ No  _ fight with her in it is EVER easy. She’ll make this freaky version of Pearl eat those words.

“Oh yeah? Come try me!” Jasper immediately lunges at the off-colour Pearl, tackling her to the ground, her spear being flung off to the side in her surprise. Jasper holds her down, and raises a fist menacingly. “You have NO idea how long I’ve been wanting to do this, you poindexter little b-” Jasper’s insult was quickly cut off by a whip snaking its way around her neck, Amethyst leveraging her entire weight to throw the attacking gem-person off of her friend. Jasper is pulled backwards, arching slightly in the air before landing flat on her back. She slowly rises out of the cloud of dust which had formed around her impact. “Gurhh..! Lucky shot!” Jasper spits at the strangely purple girl who had just thrown her over her shoulder (how exactly she’d done so was a question for AFTER the enforcer had beaten all of their skulls in).

“How’s  _ this _ for lucky!” Amethyst shouts, lashing her whip towards Jasper, only for her to raise her forearm in defense, the whip wrapping impotently around the sneering woman’s arm. With one swift jerk Amethyst was dragged across the landscape towards Jasper, with the fighter kicking the smaller gem high into the air and back down onto the beach below. Jasper… Was fairly surprised. She had only intended to throw Amethyst off-balance; how she’d managed to pull her across the shore was a feat that was beyond her understanding. “..How… how did I- Hey!” Jasper just narrowly ducks a forward jab from Garnet, who was wearing what looked like a pair of oversized boxing gloves. The athletic gem mercilessly struck at Jasper, but the displaced woman would not go down, dodging, deflecting and parrying every blow that came at her, before finally landing a hard kick to Garnet’s chest. The gem, rather than fall backwards, as Jasper expected, was simply shoved far away, her feet digging deep into the fine sand as they remain firmly planted.

Garnet breathes heavily, clearly surprised by the switched gem’s resilience. “How... “ She huffs. “How are you so strong?” She rushes at Jasper, only to have one fist then the other caught in her opponent’s hands.

“You may have professional training, narc. But  _ I’ve  _ got a lifetime on the wrong side of town behind me. Where I come from, you learn to develop a thick skull!” This boast is then immediately followed by a swift headbut from Jasper, which both hurt even less than usual and sent Garnet crashing into the ground, leaving a line of displaced sand as she slid across the beach, a fact which surprised even Jasper until she looked up, and realized her head was encased in some form of crystal helmet. “Okay, seriously. What the HELL is going on here!?” As if in answer, a wave of…  _ goddamn laser bolts _ was sent straight her way. Jasper raising her arms up to block the assault, which came from the tip of Pearl’s spear, of all places. “What!? Lasers WHAT!?” She shouts, bemused at the entire situation. The burly woman is slowly forced backwards by the light-based assault, taking step after step away from the lanky gem as she is forced to retreat. Amethyst, having regained consciousness and seen an opportunity, summoned another whip and swung low at Jasper’s heels, disorienting the taller gem and sending her crashing backwards.

Jasper groaned in pain, gritting her teeth as the world was filled with stars at the edge of her vision. “Gah! Just who the heck do you think you are, anyways?” Jasper growls, before getting her answer in the form of a large foot planted firmly onto her chest. She stares up at Garnet, her square hair framed in the sun, and the purplish gem smirks.

“We’re the Crystal Gems, defenders of this planet. And you-”  Garnet’s speech is summarily cut off by Jasper grabbing her planted foot and pulling it to one side. Garnet hits the ground hard, but her rest is rather brief, as Jasper grabs both the fusion’s legs and grips hard. 

“I’ll tell you who I am!” Jasper shouts, as she begins swinging Garnet over her shoulder in a wide vertical arc. “I-” Garnet crashes into the beach, shaking the ground with the sheer amount of force. “Am DONE-” Again, Garnet is swung, like a ball on a chain, over the gem-woman’s head, and into the beach below. “WITH YOU!!!” Rather than get swung upwards again, Garnet finds herself pulled violently to the side, as Jasper begins spinning the fusion around her in a hammer toss, before releasing her straight into the fast approaching forms of Steven, Amethyst, and Pearl, knocking the lot of them to the ground. Jasper breathes heavily, winded from the exertion, but feeling strangely unexhausted, given her seemingly ludicrous amounts of effort and show of strength just now. “And let that be a lesson to you, you bunch of townie dolts!” She shouts at the gems, who are all too disoriented to mount a counter-offensive. “Now stay out of my way! Because, once I figure out what in god’s name is going ON around here, I’m coming back and I’m taking what’s rightfully Jesse’s, by whatever means necessary!” And, with that ultimatum sent, Jasper runs off, fleeing far out of sight by the time the gems regain their faculties.

The gems just stare off after Jasper, utterly stunned by what just happened, to the point that they didn’t even notice the approach of another gem. 

“Hey. What are you guys all looking at?” They all whirl around to see Lapis Lazuli standing behind them, the blanket she left with on her shoulder, folded neatly over her arm, and a sheepish smile on her face. 

“Uh…” Steven glances over his shoulder at the direction Jasper went. “Jasper is switched and apparently the human Jasper can also kick butt.” Steven pauses. “Are… you you back for good, or are you just returning the blanket?”

“I… had a few questions, actually.” She frowns. “Were… were you guys like… taking care of… uhm, the other me while all that craziness was going on?”

Steven nods. “Yeah.” He glances at the other gems. “I… think you’d  _ still _ be welcome to stay with us if you want?”

Pearl nods.

“… I’m not sure…” She glances at the other gems warily, and Amethyst laughs. 

“Oh, come  _ on _ , Lapis, we don’t bite!”

Lapis laughs nervously, and smiles. “O-okay.”

Steven smiles brightly. “Yeah! The Interdimensional Gem Sleepover continues!”


	18. Desperate Times, Desperate Measures

### Chapter 16

#### Desperate Times, Desperate Measures

Humming to himself, Steven happily steps along the lazy walk to It’s a Wash to see his dad, but before he can get there a set of robotic arms wrap around him from behind, and pull him behind the building. 

Steven whirls around to see who dragged him back here and… it’s Peridot, standing crooked with just one foot, and with her arms crossed, scowling at Steven.

“Uhhhh.” Steven stares blankly at Peridot. “Hi?”

She takes a deep breath, still glaring at Steven. “I hope you know that this is quite literally my last resort.” She sighs. “From my observations you are  _ far _ from the most intelligent of gems- if you even are a gem you  _ Steven- _ but you are- again from my observations- the  _ safest _ option, as you seem to be rather naive and trusting, even of enemies such as myself.”

“…Thanks?” Steven tilts his head to the side. “Is this about the body-switching thing?”

“No!” Peridot stomps her foot. “Don't interrupt! This is VERY important, you worthless little pebble!”

“Oh.” Steven smiles nervously. “Sorry. Please continue.” He pauses for a moment, but before Peridot even speaks again, he continues. “… So is that a ‘no’ as in ‘no, this isn't about the body-switching thing’ or ‘no, don't talk.’”

“WHAT DID I JUST SAY!?” She screams.

Steven claps his hands over his mouth, then locks it with an imaginary key, nodding for her to continue.”

She clears her throat. “As I was saying. I am only telling  _ YOU _ because you are the safest option. This planet has an expiration date.”

“Is it going to spoil like milk or something?” 

“INTERRUPTING!” Peridot screeches, glaring hard at Steven.

“Sorry!” Steven squeaks, smacking his hands over his mouth again.

“Yes.” She sighs. “As. I. Was. SAYING. This world is destined to die. The Diamonds, seeing the opportunity to experiment with gem shards using the myriad samples left over from the war, decided to create the ultimate extension of the concept of forced fusion.” Her fingers weave together in front of her face, but her arms stay crossed. “The Cluster. A massive forced fusion of  _ MILLIONS _ of gem-shards embedded deep in the Earth's core. It was set to emerge soon, which is why I was sent to observe its progress, and some of the the prototypes are already emerging. Early, meaning that the Cluster’s emergence was  _ already _ imminent.” She sighs. “But then YOU clods had to go and potentially kill the planet  _ FASTER _ ! Somehow managing to knock the  _ entire fabric of reality _ out of alignment, and induce some form of quantum translocation effect in all the gems on the planet!”

“Oooooooh.” Steven nods. “So this IS about the body-switching thing.”

“YES! YES THIS IS ABOUT THE BODY-SWITCHING THING!”

"You should tell the other gems about this Peridot.” He pauses. “Though you’re actually wrong a  _ bit _ . It affects Connie too.”

“NO!” Peridot snaps. “And what is a Connie?”

“Connie is my friend.” Steven pauses. “Why won’t you tell them? They need to know.”

“Because…” Peridot scowls. “Because… uuuuh…” She trails off. “THEY'RE CLODS!” She snaps after a moment of awkward silence. “AND DEFECTS.” She takes a deep breath. “…And they're trying to kill me.”

“Capture.” Steve corrects her. “They're trying to capture you.”

“Is there a  _ difference _ ?” Peridot says slowly, her eyes narrowed at Steven.

Steven’s eyes go wide, and he stares a Peridot in silence for several moments. “…Homeworld doesn't sound very fun.” He squeaks, still staring sadly at her.

“It's really not.” Peridot mutters, crossing her arms.

“Still though.” Steven sighs. “Not liking someone seems like an awfully petty reason to let the world end.”

“Don't judge me you Steven! It’s not my planet, I’m just stuck on it!” She scowls.   
“Besides, I have  _ you _ to act as a mediator.”

“… No.” Steven shakes his head. “ _ YOU _ need to tell them.”

“And what if I don't?” Peridot sneers, leaning forward towards Steven. “Huh?”

“Then I won't tell them.” Steven says, staring down Peridot with his arms crossed.

She sputters, glaring at Steven, with her fingers curled into shaking fists. “Well- I- You- I mean-” She groans. “Gaaaah! FINE! Just take me to their stupid beach house.” She huffs, grumbling under her breath, and Steven walks back the way he came to the temple, Peridot hobbling behind him.

Steven walks into the house. “Guys! Peridot has information on the switching thing!”

Peridot trails in after Steve, glaring hard at him. “What!?” She snaps. “I thought you said you weren't going to tell them anything!”

“I lied.” Steven shrugs. “Amethyst says sometimes it’s okay to lie if it makes everything better for everybody. Like…” He pauses. “How nobody mentions that we can hear Pearl re-enacting old war fights in her room at night."

“Wait, what!?” Pearl’s face floods with colour. “YOU CAN ALL HEAR THAT!?”

“For stone walls, they are surprisingly thin.” Garnet crosses her arms, smiling slightly, and Pearl groans. 

“Ahem.” Everyone turns their attention towards Peridot. “The Steven is correct. I have information related to the dimensional anomalies that are causing us to switch with this bizarre alternate universe.” She looks at all of them. “While I’m not entirely sure what use any of you will be in solving it, it is a matter of great urgency, so listen up clods!” She claps her fingers together. “You all have potentially dialed the doomsday clock for this planet dangerously forward towards its end.”

“Does this have anything to do with ‘The Cluster Project’?” Pearl asks, rising to her feet, with her arms crossed. 

Peridot sputters. “HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT!?”

“… You mentioned it in your message to Yellow Diamond. ‘Compromisation of the Cluster project is a likely possibility, and accurate predictions as to its future behaviour is highly uncertain’ Now what exactly is the Cluster Project, and how might the switching effect it?”

“… It… didn’t occur to me that you would also see that message.” Peridot crosses her arms. “At the center of the Earth the Cluster is laying dormant. The Cluster is a massive, artificial fusion composed of millions of Gem shards. It has laid dormant for thousands of years within this planet's crust. When this Gem activates and takes its form, the result will be  _ catastrophic _ !” Peridot pauses, taking a deep breath. “And I fear that the dimensional anomalies will upset it, and trigger its activation sooner than expected!”

“That…  _ abomination _ must be stopped…” Garnet mutters. 

“But how?” Pearl questions. “We'll need to build some sort of machine to take us to the center of the Earth, it'll have to-”

Peridot cuts Pearl off. “I wasn’t finished speaking!”

Pearl immediately pulls her spear, leveling it at Peridot. “You will  _ not _ interrupt me. You are to stand  _ at least _ ten feet away from me at ALL times, and you WILL listen to everything anyone of us tells you. Understand?” She glares hard at Peridot, who looks at the spearhead leveled at her warily.

“U-understood.” Peridot stammers, clearly very surprised by the sudden threat.

“We’re  _ not _ letting you escape again.” Pearl sighs, and vanishes her spear. “As I was saying, We'll need to build some sort of machine to take us to the center of the Earth, it'll have to withstand up to 360 gigapascals of pressure and temperatures of 9800 degrees…” 

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Peridot paces on the sidewalk in front of Pearl’s house, steeling herself to walk up and knock on the door. 

She takes a deep breath and strides up to the door, knocking three times, then waiting for it to open. It does just a few seconds later. “SotheDiamondsist-” She cuts herself off, realizing that it was Pearl who opened the door and not Steven, like she had hoped. “-eeeep! It's you!" She bolts, running as fast as she possibly can away from Pearl’s house.

Pearl is silent for a moment, staring after her. “Well,  _ that _ was odd.” She shrugs, and closes her door. 

The next day she comes back again, knocking three times, and waiting for the door to open. It does, almost immediately. "Okaysoamatterofgreatimportneedstob- eeep!” She smacks her hands over her mouth, shaking her head. “Not again!” She dashes away from Pearl’s house, again leaving Pearl confused in her doorway”

“… Hello again Peridot. It's always  _ so _ nice to see you.” Pearl rolls her eyes, and closes the door. 

Just later that day Peridot creeps up to the door again, knocking softly, and praying that Steven answers it. 

“Okayseriouslythisisveryveryimportant-” She stops, seeing Pearl again having answered it. “OH COME ON!” She tears away. 

“Oh, Peridot, hello, do come in, oh no, do you have to go so soon, well it was nice seeing you…” Pearl mutters sarcastically, before closing her door. 

The next morning she creeps up to the door again, and hesitantly knocks- ready to run in an instant should Pearl open the door, but  _ finally _ Steven does. “Ah! Finally!”

“Hello Peridot.”

“Okaysolistenyouknowyourauntswellyoudon'tknowyourauntsyou'venevermetthembutthepointisyouknowaboutthemrightwellanywaystheyplantostealthedeedtobeachcitywhichisinyourmom'smansionbybuyingitoffofgregtheythenintendtousethedeedtoclaimownershipofthetownsotheycanevictthecityandreplacethewholetownwitharesorthotelbecausetheythinkbeachcityisprimerealestateandwantalltheprofittothemselvesnomatterwhathappenstoanyoneelse!” She takes a deep breath, obviously in dire need of air after that run on  _ word _ . “-andthat'swhyIneedyourhelppleasecanyouhelpme???”

“…” Steven frowns, squinting at Peridot. “…I'm sorry, my aunts want to do what?”

“Aghhh!” Peridot groans. “Demolish the town you pebble! They want to evict everyone and turn Beach City into one giant Hotel Resort!”

“What!?” Steven screeches. “Well, why didn't you just say so!?”

“…I just DID!!!” 

“Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh! We need to tell Pearl! And my dad! And Garnet, cause like, that’s probably illegal and she’s a cop!” Steven takes a deep breath. “This is like, really bad Peridot! I mean, how can they even do that!?”

“I’m not sure on the exacts, but it was apparently Lily who figured it out… She has a law degree, so I can only assume it’s through some devious little loophole in the local by-laws.”

“…Doesn’t my Aunt Lily own like… a cosmetics company or something?”

“… among others, yes.”

“Huh.” Steven frowns. “Well, I’m getting Pea-”

“PLEASE DON’T!”

Steven stops, frowning at Peridot. “Well, I mean, Pearl grew up with my Mom and her sisters, would she be good to talk to about this?”

Peridot’s face flushes. “Well, yes, but just… please don’t.”

“…” Steven giggles. “I’m getting her, Peridot. Come on in, have a seat.” He steps out of the doorway, gesturing Peridot in. 

“… Of  _ course _ you are…” Peridot walks in and sits on the couch, sighing. 

 


	19. Unease

### Chapter 17

#### Unease

“Why would this ‘ _ barn’ _ be useful.” Peridot looks the barn up and down, her eyes narrowed. She steps up next to Pearl- her missing foot having been returned to her by Steven -and frowns. Pearl glances at Peridot, and steps away from her.

“It’s full of parts…” Pearl walks over and opens the the barn, revealing all the myriad pieces of machinery inside. “They’re technically old parts to airplanes, but we  _ should _ be able to use them.”

“Airplanes?”

Pearl sighs. “… A vehicle that allows humans to fly within the Earth's atmosphere.” She pulls out the chalkboard and starts drawing up a vague design. “But mechanical part are mechanical parts…”

“So we are going to use parts from some primitive gravity negation devices to build a drill?” She steps up next to Pearl again, and Pearl goes very stiff, taking a step away from Peridot. 

They start work on the drill, Peridot gravitating towards Pearl constantly in an attempt to remain involved in the active process, and Pearl constantly moving away.

Getting annoyed with this, Peridot stands next to Pearl, crossing her arms. “…Why are you doing that?”

Pearl sighs, and briefly glances at Peridot. “Ten feet. Remember?”

Peridot scowls. “Yes but… Why? I highly doubt you are afraid of me, and at last recollection, I had done nothing to offend or insult you beyond my standard insults levied at the rest of your team.”

Pearl doesn’t look up towards Peridot again, focusing on sketching a detailed blueprint. “Just shut up and work…” 

“And that's another thing!” Peridot snaps. “You’ve hardly  _ looked _ at me, but when you look at me for an extended period of time, you blush? Is there some malfunction in the fluid transfer network on your face?”

Pearl grits teeth. “I  _ said _ shut up and work…”

“Ugh…” Peridot groans. “Fine.” She holds out her hand towards Pearl. “Scizzor me.”

Pearl looks up towards Peridot with narrowed eyes. “…Scizzor?”

“That  _ IS _ what you call a bi-axial cutting handle on this planet, yes?”

Pearl sighs. “It's  _ scissors _ .”

“Ugh.” Peridot groans. “ _ FINE _ . Scissor me, then.”

Pearl’s face floods with colour. “Ugh!” She groans, shaking her head. “And by accident…”

“What accident?” Peridot asks. “What in Diamond's name am I doing wrong!? How have I offended you? I haven’t even  _ mentioned _ how illogically you are acting, given what you are!”

Pearl sighs. “… you never offended me, though you’re coming dangerously close with that last comment…” 

“Then what?” Peridot snaps. “I refuse to work under these conditions! Did my interdimensional doppelganger do something to cause you grief?”

Pearl’s already flushed face goes even bluer, and she sharply sucks in a breath through her teeth.

“AHA!” Peridot points at Pearl triumphantly. “I've solved it! What did I- er- she say?”

Pearl is silent for a moment. “… I'd rather not say.” She glances over at Steven, frowning.

“…Did my other offend the Steven, thus setting off whatever protective instinct you have developed towards him?”

Steven laughs, walking over to the two technician gems. “No. She was being  _ weird _ when we caught her.”

Peridot turns to Pearl, her eyes narrowed. “Weird?…” She frowns, staring at the ground. “Could that be…” Her face goes dark green, and her eyes widen. “Oh. Right. Those… choice words in her-” She cuts herself clearing her throat. “N-Nevermind!” She returns to working for a few moments, but stops, looking back up at Pearl. “I… Uh… Would just like to make it clear that whatever ideas my other implied, or... acts she described are COMPLETELY irrelevant to m-”

“Shut up!” Pearl snaps, cutting Peridot off. She sighs. “Just,  _ shut up _ . I don't wish to speak of it.”

“Understood…” She’s silent for a moment. “…But seriously, are you going to hand me those scissors or not?”

Pearl throws the scissors at her, Peridot just barely ducking away from them in time to avoid an uncomfortably close impromptu haircut.

“Okay, let’s just get to-” The world shifts around Pearl, and she finds herself suddenly looking out over the beach near the temple, or rather, the manor, with the others around her looking mildly freaked. “OH COME ON!” She shouts, turning around and leaning back against the porch railing, looking up at the manor house, before looking at everyone else around her. “So…” She sighs. “What’d I miss?”

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“You’re hardly a lawyer, Pearl.” Peridot crosses her arms, looking up at the manor. “Do you really think looking over the deed is going to help anything?”

“It’s worth a try, Peridot.” Pearl narrows her eyes. “If I know Lily at all, then she will stop at NOTHING to get this, and so far Jessamine isn’t doing a bang up job with her plan thus far, so I imagine she’ll try something else soon…” She shakes her head. “We need to stop this  _ now _ .” 

Garnet crosses arms. “What I want to know is how this manor could give them the right to evict a whole city.”

Pearl sighs. “The Manor has been around longer than Beach City. The original property probably contained acres of land that Beach City is now on, but due to the age of the building, was likely forgotten about, and the record of ownership likely only exists in its original deed.” She frowns. “The Diamonds are  _ old _ money, and I’m pretty sure this house was bought by someone in their family when America was still a new country.”

“… Sheesh.” Garnet shakes her head. “That’s… crazy.”

Amethyst rolls her eyes. “I don’t care about the HOW, let’s just like, go in there and get it! I think I still have things in there I need to get anyhow.”

Peridot frowns at Amethyst. “… Why would you have things in there?”

Pearl smiles wistfully. “We’ve actually all lived in the manor one time or another. Amethyst and I both lived here with Rose right up until her engagement. Garnet lived here for about a month while her apartment was being renovated.” 

“I never lived here.” Steven points out, but Pearl shakes her head.

“You did. For about a month, until Greg decided he didn’t want to live here anymore.”

“Doesn’t Mr. Universe live in his  _ van _ ? That never really made much sense to me when he technically owns this mansion.” 

Pearl sighs. “There’s a reason Steven lives with me…”  

The go up, and enter the house, the front room dark and eerie, showing clear signs of neglect, with sheets thrown over the furniture in the main foyer, a grand staircase going up, and several archways going to different rooms. 

Pearl lets out a slow breath. “It’s like stepping into the past…” 

Steven looks around in wonder. “This place is  _ huge _ …” 

Amethyst grins. “Aaaa, the crazy things I got up to in this place.” She chuckles. “I remember trying to roller skate down that banister.” She turns to Pearl. “Remember that?”

Pearl looks at the floor at the foot of the stairs. “I… remember you  _ failing  _ to do that, falling and busting you head open. Rose took you to the hospital, and I stayed behind to clean your blood off the floor.”

Amethyst frowns. “Always gotta be a buzz kill, huh, P?”

“This place isn’t full of  _ happy _ memories for me Amethyst.”

_ “DO YOU WISH TO ENGAGE IN COMBAT!?” _ A blue version of the other universe’s Pearl appears out of nowhere, hurtling out from under a sheet and swinging a sword.  _ “PARRY! PARRY! THRUST!” _ In its frenetic assault it stabs straight through the  _ real _ Pearl, scaring the group half to death, before fading away.

“WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT!?” Pearl shouts, absently patting her torso where the sword fazed through her.

“That looked an awful lot like the thing that the other Pearl was using to teach the other Connie swordfighting.” Steven frowns. “What was it… Holo-Pearl?”

Amethyst walks over and lifts the sheet, but the only thing underneath it is an old, dusty lamp. She shrugs. “Weeeeird.”

Pearl rubs her temples. “Ugh, just when I thought things couldn’t get  _ any _ stranger.” 

“ _ You're just a phase. You know that, right?” _

Pearl’s voice from the back of the room gets everyone’s attention, and they whirl to see a translucent image of the other universe's Pearl- looking straight out of the 80’s with a shawl and leg warmers- staring over her shoulder at Greg, looking just like he did when he and Rose first met.

The image of Greg sighs.  _ “No, I actually  _ _ don't _ _ know that, Pearl.” _

Pearl laughs condescendingly, and the real Pearl groans, turning away from it, her face in her hands. “Oh, of course you don't. You don't know anything about Rose.”

Greg smirks.  _ “I know she's super into me!” _

_ “Listen, Mr. Universe. Rose may find you  _ _ charming _ _ , but that's only because you're  _ _ human _ _. You're a novelty, at best…” _ The image fades out, and all eyes are on the real Pearl, who’s still standing with her back to where the image was with her face in her hands. 

“Uh, Pearl?” Steven steps up next to her. “Are you okay?” He pauses. “It’s not you. That was the  _ other _ Pearl.”

Pearl lowers her hands, shaking her head. “I’m fine Steven. That…” She forces a smiles. “Was just… startling.” 

Garnet frowns. “Let’s get out of here as quickly as possible.” She strides off towards one of the archways out, briefly hitting a wall that seemed to flicker in for just a moment. 

She stops, taking off her visor and staring at the archway with narrowed eyes. 

“That was… strange.” 

The sound of thunder rumbles, and suddenly rain can be heard pouring down.  _ “No, you don't understand.” _ They all turn towards a shadowy image of Steven standing on a roof above Garnet in the rain. _ “Everything I do shoves me violently towards the end! The more I know, the more I know that I don't know!” _ The shadow Steven kneels down with his hands up in the air.  _ “I can't live like this! Why did you tell me about future vision?! What's going to happen to me on the roof?!” _

_ “This.” _ The shadow Garnet say flatly, and the real Garnet frowns.

_ “W-What? _

_ “I knew you might do this if I told you about my power. I saw this, and I told you anyway.” _

_ “But why?” _

_ “I took a risk at your expense. There was a chance you'd understand this, and we'd be closer. Steven, _ ” The shadow Garnet takes off her visor, revealing her third eye.  _ “I see so many things that can hurt you. I should never have let one of them be me…” _

The shadowy image fades out, and with it the sound of rain. Garnet scowls. “Maybe we should split up. Find the deed faster.”

“Well…” Pearl looks around the foyer. “With these strange anomalies, perhaps none of us should venture alone?”

“… Steven and Amethyst can go together. You and Peridot can go together. I’ll go on my own.”

“… Could I… instead go with Steven and Amethyst could go with Pearl?” Peridot forces a smile.  

“I’m sorry, but do you have some sort of problem with me, Peridot?” Pearl snaps. “First being unwilling to tell me about this directly, going so far as to run from the door when I answer it, and now this?” She shakes her head. “Now, I’d personally rather stay with Steven, but it has nothing to do with you.”

“No, no, no!” Peridot shakes her head quickly. “It’s not that I have anything against you, see I-” Steven grabs Peridot’s wrist, pulling her up the stairs.

“We’re gonna look around upstairs!” Steven shouts down at the others. 

 

“Hey! Wait a second Ste-” Pearl’s objection is abruptly cut short by the slam of a large wooden door on the upper floor of the mansion as Steven and Peridot disappear into one of the upper rooms. Pearl looks up at the second floor, utterly beside herself. “They can’t just- I mean, he has no idea where he’s going! Garnet! Could you help me find-” Pearl looks over to where Garnet had been standing, only to find her spot empty, the statuesque woman evidently having went off further into the west wing of the house.

Amethyst snickers. “Whelp. Guess we’re on our own, huh P?”

“Amethyst, this is serious! There are  _ interdimensional anomalies _ occurring around this house,  and now Steven is alone somewhere in the upper floors with a woman I  _ do not _ trust to keep him safe.” Pearl wrings her hands in worry, a flicker of genuine fear in her eye.

Amethyst, ever the laid back one, brushes off the taller woman’s concerns. “P, lighten up. So, magical home movies are playing everywhere, so what? You just saw that they couldn’t actually hurt us, and besides, Steven is way more capable than you give him credit for. He’ll be fine! Now come on. Let’s go check this place out!” Amethyst grabs Pearl’s hand and drags her into another archway, towards the East Wing.

“H-hey! Hang on Amethyst, you don’t know where you’re going either!” Pearl sputters, as she is dragged along through the dilapidated manor by her friend, whisking here and there across several rooms with seemingly no pattern.

“Nah, I know exactly where I’m going!” Amethyst calls over her shoulder. “Just another left aaaaaaand voila!” Amethyst ends her and Pearl’s semi-voluntary tour in a large kitchen area, with myriad utensils and crockery lining upper shelves, and a series of sinks, cutting tables, ovens, and stoves so extensive it would make a Parisian chef blush.

Pearl is utterly bemused. “...The KITCHEN!? You dragged me halfway across the house, just to check out the kitchen? Why!? What could we possibly find here that would be of any use to  _ anything _ ?” The aerospace engineer questions thoroughly, almost offended at her companion’s lack of focus.

“I’ll tell you what we’ll find here…” Amethyst mumbles, climbing up onto one of the tables and rummaging through the contents of a cabinet, before making an excited squeaking noise, and producing a familiar bag, with a decidedly different depiction than usual, featuring a smiling chip, except covered in red flakes and actively on fire, with a similarly fiery background to the bag in general. “Five Alarm Super Spicy Chaaps!” Amethyst cheers triumphantly. “They banned these things a little while after Steven was born for ‘Dangerous quantities of a variety of spices and chemicals’. But I thought it was one of the biggest tragedies in junk food history. My stache of these things ran out three years ago, but now, the spice lives on!” Amethyst immediately opens the bag and begins devouring the artificially spiced potato chips, the lack of an immediate sign of disgust either a clear sign of the Latino girl’s iron constitution, or of the sheer preservative saturation within Chaaps. Pearl was unsure which answer was more unsettling.

“Amethyst, honestly! this is ridiculous! Can you just be responsible for one second? This is serious, and I want you to act accordingly.” Pearl demands, stamping her foot and pointing at the ground, in an attempt to order Amethyst to stop standing on the table.

Amethyst scoffs. “Ha! Serious? Come on, P. Serious is for people who can’t just chill. And I’ll have you know, I am the chillest person I’ve ever met.” The shorter woman remarks snidely, lowering herself such that she was sitting on the island, her feet dangling over the side.

Pearl could only look more flustered. “You? Chill? Amethyst, don’t act like you haven’t dragged all of us down in the past. You, just as much as anyone, have problems that call your attention. Don’t act like the truth is anything otherwise.”

“Issues? Me? You must be confusing me with some other rad gal, P, because I am the single most O.K. person I have ever-”

Amethyst’s boast of intellectual stability is both cut off and undercut by another apparition, this time of Amethyst and Pearl in a canyon, the two evidently locked in combat. 

_ “Amethyst, stop this! You can't beat me.” _ The apparition of Pearl shouts, clearly pleading with the shorter gem, a spear in her hands.

_ “I… don't…  _ **_CARE_ ** _!” _ Amethyst screams, pulling two whips from her gem and swings them forward, both ends wrapping around the spear.  _ “I'm not gonna let you stand there and remind me of everything I  _ **_hate_ ** _ about myself!”  _ She swings the whips, sending violet beams of energy down them, causing a huge explosion that blasts Pearl back into a drill like device that resembles a bacteriophage. 

She lies on the ground, whimpering slightly.

_ “I never asked for it to be this way.”  _ She cries out, tears spilling over, streaking down her face.  _ “I never asked to be made!…”  _

The image fades out, leaving Pearl and Amethyst staring at where it had been in stunned silence. 

For a minute or two, nothing is said, Amethyst and Pearl merely stood beside each other in utter silence, Amethyst having gotten off the table with little fanfare. The situation the two woman had just witnessed was utterly fantastical in its presentation, and far removed from their reality. But still, parallels were there, connections could be made between the shadowy recollection and the hard truths of their lives, and proof enough of this fact could be seen in the silent tears rolling down Amethyst’s face.

Pearl holds out a hand anxiously, knowing how to react when something like this happens, but never truly having gotten used to it. “Amethyst… I… I know you don’t like to talk about your pare- The people who conceived you. But, if you ever have anything you want to talk about-” Pearl’s hand is weakly brushed away by Amethyst, who gives her friend a cold stare.

“Do NOT pity me Pearl. I’m done with pity. Sad orphan Amethyst is loooong gone. She has been for years. I don’t care what this house digs up, it’s been buried so long, it’s just a pile of dust to me.” The short woman shrugs at all that’s happened, wiping away her tears in a vain attempt at hiding her inner turmoil.

“Amethyst, please!” Pearl pleads of her friend. “It’s… It’s not healthy to ignore your issues, they just bubble up inside and hurt you in other ways. You can’t just ignore it!” Pearl chides, taking on the same stern, motherly approach she does whenever someone needs a lesson in comfort and self-worth.

This act of therapy, evidently, was not appreciated by Amethyst, who snaps at the taller woman, teeth gritting in anger. “NO! NonononoNO! I am NOT about to be pitied by  _ you _ of all people! You do  _ not _ get to take the moral high ground here, P. It’s not like your birth parents were any better than mine! If ANYONE needs to face their inner insecurities, it’s you!” She growls, her eyes frozen, yet belying a deeper fire of both contempt and sympathy.

Pearl takes a step back, taken aback and equally offended. “ME!? How  _ dare _ you! I am  _ always  _ frank with my issues. I’ve had a LOT of crap to deal with in my life, and I HAVE dealt with it. I face my issues head on, and I am better for it.”

It seemed that fate had a grudge against the two women, as they stood alone in the kitchen, ruminating upon their past. Or perhaps the house itself, evidently sick with all it had seen both in this world and the other, had sought fit to throw all it could at the fragile minds of its occupants. But in either case, and for whatever reason, the walls of reality bent again, as yet another scene appeared before the two. This time, the location was a floating rock in the sky, with Pearl facing the moon, and a bedraggled Steven standing behind her, looking both confused, and worried for his friend.

_ “Everything I ever did, I did for her.”  _ The shadow Pearl’s voice is pained.  _ “Now she's gone, but I'm still here. Sometimes, I wonder if she can see me through your eyes.” _ She sighs deeply, her eyes shining. _ “What would she think of me now?” _

Steven, hesitating for a moment, moves forward and hugs Pearl tightly from behind.  _ “Well… I think you're pretty great.” _

As the scene faded away once more, it was Pearl’s turn to silently hold back tears, and Amethyst’s to offer a comforting hand.

“P, I… I’m sorry, I know how much she meant to you.”

Pearl sniffles, wiping the tears from her eyes. “No, no, I’m… I’m fine. As I said, I face my issues and deal with them. But… To face them so literally, and to see  _ her _ barely try, it… It can be a bit too much sometimes.” She looks away, attempting to recompose herself.

Amethyst looks down at the ground, and can’t help but let out a chuckle. “Heh. I guess we’re  _ both _ kinda screwed up, huh?”

Pearl looks at her friend, and smiles. “Yes. I… I suppose we are.”

This moment of camaraderie does not last very long as, almost faster than Pearl can react, the world shifts once more, and she is suddenly standing in front of the barn in the countryside, Peridot sitting on the ground a few feet away next to a chalkboard. 

Pearl sighs inwardly. “But not  _ half _ as screwed up as them.”


	20. Impending Destruction

### Chapter 18

#### Impending Destruction

Pearl looks around with narrowed eyes. “Are… are we at Greg’s aunt and uncle’s old barn?”

“Oh no!” Steven shakes his head. “You switched! I mean, nothing against you, but we need OUR Pearl right now!”

Pearl sighs, shaking her head. “Okay,  _ why _ exactly is that? And  _ why _ are we at Greg’s barn?” She looks around. “The last time you came here Steven, the other Pearl almost took you into space. You’re not going into space, right?”

Steven shakes his head, laughing. “No, no, we’re not going into space.”

“The opposite really.” Amethyst snorts. “We’re going underground.” She swerves her hands downward, and cracks up. 

“This. Is. SERIOUS.” Peridot snaps, and Pearl glances over her shoulder at the green gem, who’s sitting on the ground, surrounded by myriad mechanical parts, with a chalkboard behind her. 

A chalkboard with some sort of engineering plans drawn on it.

Pearl steps forward, staring at the blueprints drawn on the chalkboard, trying to comprehend them using her knowledge… which, unfortunately, is focused on airplanes and spaceships, not… drills?

“Okay, so why exactly are you building a drill that’s…” She shakes her head. “Dear god, how deep do you plan on going!? Presuming I’m reading this correctly, the pressures that this design could theoretically withstand are mindboggling.”

“Well the Cluster is in the center of the Earth, so as deep as it goes really, unless you count digging  _ past _ the center of the Earth and going deeper, then I suppose it would be halfway down.”

Pearl glances down at Peridot. “And what, pray tell, is the Cluster?”

“It’s a really bad thing in the center of the Earth that will destroy the planet if we don’t destroy it.” Steven answers quickly, before Peridot can. “So we’re building a drill thingy to go down to it.”

“ _ I’m _ building a drill to go down to it…” Peridot snaps. “None of you were helping!”

“… Pearl made the blueprint thingy for the drill.” Steven points out, and Pearl takes another look at it, recognizing her own work, but at the same time being utterly baffled by it. 

“… Yes, this is clearly my handwriting, so it’s obvious you  _ weren’t _ working on it alone.”

“… I’d have rather worked on it alone. Not  _ only _ is this NOT what pearls are made for, but she was standoffish, blamed me for my alternate’s actions, and threw scissors at me!”

“No, sorry, go back. ‘Not what Pearls are made for’? What are you talking about? I-uh-she was  _ made? _ ”

“Yes!” Peridot snaps. “Well, I mean, ALL gems are made. But you're caste's situation is worse because- Uhhhh.... Uhm... Huh.” The technician gem is momentarily caught off-guard, faced with a philosophical issue which she wasn’t about to face in the middle of an argument. “W-Whatever! You're just an accessory! It doesn’t matter in the slightest.”

“… Excuse me?” Pearl mutters, her tone dangerously low, though Peridot seems to be oblivious to it. 

“You're some fancy gem's idea of a fashion statement…” She mutters, trying to use a screwdriver as a miniature crowbar to pry open a microwave. “Like a handbag, or a pair of designer shoes!” She pauses. “I hate my alternate for making me even know what those  _ are _ .” She shakes her. “Pearls are bought on a whim by the wealthy, then thrown away when they're bored of you. You’re nothing more than someone’s shiny toy, meant to stand around and look pretty…”

“You…” Pearl’s hands clench into fists at her sides. “You're telling me…” She’s practically seething as she glares down at the still-oblivious green gem. “That I was… made to be some sort of… doll? Something someone only has to look pretty and show off?”

“Yep!” Peridot grins, laughing to herself. “And you can’t even do that right! Ha!” She shakes her head. “Of course  _ you’re _ more useless than the defect normally i-” Peridot gets cut off by Pearl’s fist solidly impacting her face. “OW!” She yelps in pain. “Agh! That was SO not cool!”

“Neither was calling me an  _ accessory _ .” Pearl hisses through clenched teeth.

“Hey. It's not the  _ WORST _ job in the world.” Peridot shrugs. “If you're a doll, then I'm a wrench! At least your life is pampered and fancy for what little control you have over it. It doesn't change the fact that you're barely a person, but still.”

Pearl, after a moment’s hesitation, punches Peridot again.

“OW!” Peridot weakly rubs her face. “GEEZE! STOP DOING THAT!”

“STOP INSULTING ME!” Pearl screeches, her hands clenched in shaking fists at her sides.

“NO!” Peridot snaps, crossing her arms, but her jaw quickly meets an enraged Pearl’s fist once more. “GAAAAAH!” Peridot cries, wincing as she touches her face. “Alright, okay, I'll stop insulting the insignificance of your-” And again her face gets an introduction to Pearl’s fist.

“OH COME ON!”  I didn't even FINISH that time!"

Pearl sighs, taking a few deep breaths to calm herself down. “ _ That _ one was for all the weird crap you wrote about me in your journal.”

“Hey! It's not MY fault the other me wishes she could swim in your ey-” She gets cut off by one last punch. “AAAAAAGHHHH!!!!” She scoots away from Pearl. “Diamonds above, you’re violent.”

Pearl takes a deep breath and walks away, looping around behind the barn, taking slow breaths to calm herself down.

She’s just a doll. Something to make her… owners look good. 

She slides to the ground, blankly staring forward, her vision blurred by tears. 

“Are you okay?” Garnet sits down next to her. “That… wasn’t the nicest of ways to find out your alternate’s history.”

“No!” Pearl snaps, weakly wiping at her eyes. “How could I be? I just found out that this version of has my history if you made it  _ worse _ .”

“… Your history?”

Pearl sighs, ducking her head. “Sheesh, I hardly even think about it any more, but it’s the whole ‘doll’ or ‘accessory’ thing. That’s…” She sniffles. “That’s all I was to my birth family.” She looks up at Garnet. “… I-if you didn’t know, I was put in foster care when I was 4. The Diamond’s were my first ever family, and they wound up adopting me.”

“… Ouch.”

“Ugh, it was just awful.” She shakes her head. “But I barely even  _ think _ about that stuff anymore. I got away from it when I was so young, I barely even remember it anymore…” She lets out a shaky breath. “The only detailed memory I still have is of my mother repeating over and over that I was as cute as a doll and that I had to look perfect for the next party while bouncing me on her knee… which hurt like hell, since I was black and blue underneath the pretty princess clothes.” She sighs, ducking her head. “This being shortly before child protective services took me away from them. I… didn’t think it could get much worse off of a start than that. But being made specifically to be someone’s toy?” She shakes her head. “Is  _ everything _ here just more extreme like that?”

“Pretty much.” Garnet crosses her arms. “I actually wanted to apologize to you. Before, I took my anger at  _ my _ Pearl out on  _ you _ , and I didn't mean too. I’m sorry.”

“… You don’t need to apologize. It’s fine.” Pearl stands back up, wiping at her eyes. “When Amethyst told me what she did  _ I _ was angry with her…” She shakes her head. “Well, I’m going to go see what help an aerospace engineering degree actually is on building a gem drill.”  

\---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \----

“… well, that was… timing.” Amethyst shakes her head. “You missed some totally insane crap in the manor.” She nods her head back at the manor house behind her.

“… And this ‘totally insane crap’ is what, exactly?”

Amethyst is silent for a moment, her eyebrows pulled together. “It was… like your universe was bleeding into ours.” She shakes her head. “There were… shadows of things that happened in your universe. And Steven walked through a door and found himself in a room full of pink clouds.”

“Room… full of…” Pearl shakes her head slowly.  “That’s Rose’s room. You somehow entered Rose’s room from  _ here _ !?”

“N-not just that.” Steven stammers. “I was really frustrated, and just sort of… shouted, asking what was causing all this crazy stuff, and…” He crosses his arm, frowning at the porch floor. “It created an arrow pointing up. I don't know what that m-”

“The Crystal Heart. The Crystal Heart is directly above Rose’s room. And this all started after the Slinker- it’s a gem monster, if you didn’t know -crashed into the Crystal Heart. That…” She lets out a slow breath. “Just confirms our hypothesis, I suppose…” 

“Uh… So it’s basically  _ nothing _ new for you?” Amethyst sighs. 

Pearl’s eyes widen. “Oh, no, this gives me a great deal of information.” She shakes her head. “And leaves me with many questions. Like if similar anomalies are happening at the temple in my world.”

“…Wouldn’t you know that already?” Peridot frowns crossing her arms. “Don’t you  _ live _ in your equivalent of this building?” 

Pearl sighs, crossing her arms. “Yes we do, but we aren’t currently IN it in my world, and are infact almost an hour out of the city.” She pauses, glancing over at Steven, Amethyst and Garnet. “Greg’s barn?” She says it like a question, clearly unsure if they would know what it is.

“The one full of Airplane junk?” Amethyst questions, staring at Pearl. “What are you guys doing out there?”

“… Using those parts.” Pearl sighs. “There’s… something entirely unrelated to this nonsense threatening the Earth right now.”

“… The…” Peridot shakes her head. “The  _ entire _ planet?” She lets out a slow breath. “The ENTIRE Earth is threatened in your world right now?”

“… Well, yes…” Pearl glances over her shoulder at the manor. “But… Honestly? I think it’s the  _ least _ of our concerns right now.”

“What do you mean it’s the least of our concerns?” Peridot frowns at Pearl, her eyes narrowed. “I know it’s not our Earth, but we are switching to it. I feel like the fact that the  _ entire planet _ is at risk would be a very big concern.”

“Your Steven…” Pearl sighs. “He actually went into our universe without switching. That…” She shakes her head. “That implies a level of instability beyond what we’ve already seen, which…” She wrings her hands, frowning at the ground. “Could be much, much worse than just my Earth being at risk.”

“… Like?” Amethyst says after a moment, her flippant tone a sharp contrast to how grave Pearl seems to be.

“Like… both universes being at risk. We don’t understand  _ exactly _ what’s going just yet, but things seem to be getting  _ more _ unstable as time passes, and…” Her hands drop to her side, and she sighs. “The instability seems to follow the Slinker to some extent, so it’s likely inexorably linked to these dimensional anomalies.”

“… There’s no slinker on our side, but we’ve received many reports about these anomalies.” Garnet pushes up on her shades. “Have an explanation for that?”

Pearl’s eyes widen, and she’s silent for a moment. “… Did… did yours start near here, move outward, then start moving back in again?”

“… Yes.” Garnet frowns. “Why?”

“Because that’s exactly what’s happening in our universe.” She crossed her arms frowning. “But they were  _ always _ accompanied by the Slinker…”

Garnet shrugs. “Well, this Conspiracy theorist kid-”

“Frybo?” Pearl cuts Garnet off. “I wouldn’t really take anything he says seriously. He thought Steven was a Snake Person in our world.”

“Ronaldo Fryman, yes. Well, he’s the one who’s reported… 90% of the anomalies, and with one of them- he said he saw it while taking out the trash- he claims to has seen some… hissing plant monster? He brought a photo, but there was nothing in it.”

“… Are you  _ certain _ he said hissing plant monster?” Pearl asks slowly, staring apprehensively at Garnet. 

“Yes.” She pulls a polaroid photo out of her pocket. “I have the photo with me if you want to see it, but there’s nothing in i-” She glances at the photo, and drops it in shock. 

Pearl picks it up, and stares blankly at the photo of the Slinker darting down the street. “It’s… it’s in this world too…”

 

“That’s… That’s not… I  _ swear _ that picture had nothing in it before.” Garnet, in a rare display of being caught off-guard, has a flabbergasted expression as she looks over Pearl at the image she’s holding once more, the serpentine form of what was evidently the Slinker in plain view.

Pearl looks at it curiously. “Hmm… Maybe… Maybe it doesn’t fully exist in this world. It may be possible that, due to its relatively eldritch nature compared to your universe’s laws, it cannot be physically understood or viewed unless you understand the principles behind it.

“So, what? You’re telling me fryboy was  _ right _ ?” Amethyst gives her two cents, a bemused look clear on her face.

“For once, yes. But that still doesn’t explain why its attack patterns are slowly coming back to the manor.” Pearl wonders aloud.

“...Together.”

“I’m sorry, what was that Garnet?” Pearl looks over at the taller woman.

“It… It’s trying to come together. I don’t know why Sapphire didn’t see it before. Maybe because she couldn’t believe or understand it before. But now it’s all clear to me. It’s trying to return to the manor in order to get to its equivalent of the Crystal Heart, the boiler room in the manor’s basement, and… join up again.”

Pearl is silent for moment, staring at Garnet with wide eyes. “You… That’s…” She shakes her head. “That’s too plausible.” Her voice is shaking slightly. “But it… it could be… it could be  _ catastrophic _ .” She weaves her fingers together, just staring at the porch floor. “The Slinkers bring dimensional anomalies with them, and were they to meet up at the already dimensionally offset temple- or manor, as it is in this world- it could…” She groans slightly, hiding her face in her hands. “Oh heavens, it might destroy our universes entirely!”

Steven, who had been standing idly since all this had begun, finally voices an opinion. “Well, that… That escalates things considerably.”


	21. KBCW interlude: Interdimensional War

### KBCW

#### Interdimensional War

There’s a new post on Keep Beach City Weird. It’s a video. The video’s thumbnail is just an image of Peedee and Ronaldo hugging on their couch. 

The video plays.

Ronaldo is crouched behind his couch, and only the top half of his face is visible. “This is a Keep Beach City Weird Production.” He says in an over the top voice, before standing up and walking around the couch and sitting down. “Good Morrow to all of you weird believers out there! As so many people liked my last video post, I have decided to make another, and have brought my brother back in, as many of you said he “provided a useful counterpoint” which is very true! His bad theory just showed how much better mine was!”

“Ronaldo!” Peedee snaps off camera. “If you want me to help you,  _ maybe _ you should try being nice!”

Ronaldo sighs, and says in a flat voice “A weird welcome to my little brother Peedee, who will be helping me out with this production.”

Peedee walks on camera and sits down next to Ronaldo. “You could at least pretend you want me here.”

“Hush! It’s what the fans want that matters!”

“… I thought you ran your blog to ‘expose the truth!’, not… please fans?” Peedee shakes his head. “You have fans?”

“Yes I have fans!” Ronaldo snaps. “Well, anyway, I have grave news.” He ducks his head, steepling his fingers under his chin. “Our universe is in danger.”

“… You’re kidding, right?”

“PEEDEE! DON’T HARSH MY WEIRD! I’M SERIOUS HERE!”

Peedee sighs, leaning back on the couch. “Okay, sure, I’ll bite. How is our universe in ‘ _ danger’ _ ?”

“Okay, so I’ve already talked about the dimensional anomalies-”

“Don’t you mean the dimensional anomollies?” Peedee mutters.

“Shut up! Spell check thought it was a word!”

Peedee sighs. “That’s because you added to your personal dictionary Ronaldo. You told spell check it was a word.”

“… MOVING ON. Yes, well, I believe I have figured out what is causing these anomalies.” He pauses, glancing at Peedee as if he expects him to say something.

It’s silent for a solid minute. 

“Uh, Ronaldo? Aren’t you going to say  _ what _ you think is causing them?”

“… Right.” Ronaldo frowns. “I believe the anomalies are a precursor to the other universe invading us!”

Peedee sits up straight, staring at his brother with narrowed eyes. “But didn't you think our universe was brand new just like… a week or two ago or something?” He shakes his head slowly. “Now they're trying to  _ invade _ us?”

“Well  _ OBVIOUSLY _ their universe is too mundane for their tastes, and they either created our universe as some sick experiment, or they discovered our infantile world and plan to harvest our planet's resources!” He pauses, waving his hands. “Our  _ weird _ resources! Our  _ weirdsources _ !”

“Ronaldo, that doesn't even make sense.” Peedee responds flatly, glaring at his brother. “I mean…” He picks up a map of Beach City from the coffee table that’s covered in marks. “These things have been  _ WAY _ too sporadic for it to be an attack, or at least an attack by an  _ intelligent _ enemy…”

“Well then, what's  _ YOUR _ theory, Mr. Smartypants?” Ronaldo snaps, his hands on his hips. “Hmmmmm?”

“I…” He looks at the map, thinking carefully, his expression slowly growing more horrified. “I think the worlds are colliding, Ronaldo.” He sits the map down, running his hands through his hair. “Whatever's doing this is trying to push our worlds together, regardless of the side effects. And…” He takes a shaking breath, staring horrified at his older brother. “I don't think our worlds can take it.”

“ _ Right _ Peedee.” Ronaldo rolls his eyes. “Geeze, and you call ME a doomsayer-"

“RONALDO I'M SERIOUS!!!” Peedee screams, jumping to his feet.

Ronaldo stares silently at his brother.

“I mean, look at this!” He points to all the incidences on the map “It's just like I said when I read your last post, they're getting bigger, and closer to the manor. And they  _ AREN'T GOING AWAY _ !” He falls back on the couch, his face in his hands. “Ronaldo. This… This is bad… Whatever's doing this is…   _ Hurting _ our worlds, and I don't think there's any way to stop it…”

“Peedee…” Ronaldo glances at the camera, then back at his brother. “You're serious about this, aren't you?”

“Ronaldo…” Peedee lowers his hands, staring in absolute fear at Ronaldo. “I'm  _ scared _ . For the first time in my life, I really,  _ REALLY _ hope you're right and I'm wrong.”

Ronaldo stares at the map, recognition lighting up in his eyes, and he takes a deep breath. “I… Hope so too, Peedee.” He hugs his brother. “But… I usually don't get what I want.”

“Ronaldo…”

“Listen, Peedee. Whatever happens to Beach City, whatever happens to us… At least we're going out in the weirdest way possible.”

Peedee laughs weakly “Yeah, I guess we are.”

 


	22. Slinking Shifts

### Chapter 19

#### Slinking Shifts

“Leave me alone.” Peridot turns her back to Pearl, pulling some supplies with her, and picking up a power drill, holding it upside down. 

“Peridot. Put that down. You don’t know how to use it.” Pearl reaches to take it from her, but she jerks away.

“You just make primitive gravitational negation vehicles. Don’t try to tell me how to do my job.”

“You are holding it upside down, Peridot.” Pearl grits her teeth. “You are going to hurt yourself!”

“I know what I’m doing!” Peridot snaps over her shoulder. “I don’t need help from you!”

“ _ Peridot _ .” Pearl groans. “ _ Please _ let me help.”

“NO!” Peridot screeches, scooting away from Pearl. “I DON’T NE-” The rest of Peridot’s screech is drowned out by the screeching of wheels as Greg rushes up in his van. 

He hops out, briefly looking about frantically, before his eyes settle on the gems. He speaks with a loud and worried tone. “Guys! There’s a corrupted gem attacking Beach City!”

Garnet stands up. “Let’s go gems. We need to handle this.”

Peridot crosses her arms. “I’m staying here. A corrupted gem is not a priority.”

“… Lapis, could you stay here to keep an eye on her?”  Garnet asks, and Lapis sighs.

“Yeah, sure, I can watch her.”

Everyone else gets into Greg’s van, and he speeds back towards the city, stopping just shy of the boardwalk, where it’s immediately obvious that it’s the Slinker that’s attacking.

Garnet gathers the rest of the gems behind her as they file out of the van. “Alright gems, we can do this! It’s got no tunnels to hide in this time, so just attack it from all sides. It is  _ not _ getting away this time.”

Immediately, the Crystal Gems descend upon the Slinker, and bear down with vicious force. Well… Most of them. Whilst Garnet, Amethyst, and Steven begin an assault on the quasi-dimensional abomination, Pearl is left standing by the van, a worried look in her eye. She had managed to summon her spear fine enough, though it took a few tries, but now she stands ever more confused, utterly unfamiliar with the weapon in her hands.

Greg rolls down the window and questions the lanky gem. “Pearl, what are you doing!? Aren’t you gonna help?”

Pearl looks at Greg anxiously. “I’m not  _ your _ Pearl, Greg! I don’t know the first thing about fighting monsters! I design PLANES for a living. I can’t do this!” She squeaks, evidently losing confidence by the second.

Greg looks equally worried. “Oh, geeze. You’re switched?” He looks back at the carnage, particularly worried by the image of Amethyst being thrown around by the Slinker, her whip attached to the beast’s tail, and Steven subsequently being thrown around, as he is holding on to Amethyst’s leg. “Well, you have to do  _ something _ ! You’ve still got gem powers right? Isn’t that enough?”

“Greg, the gems have had  _ millennia _ of training. I can’t compete with that!”

“Well, you’ve gotta have  _ some _ athletic skill, right? Our Pearl loves swordplay, don’t things parallel between the worlds?” He asks, only vaguely understanding what’s been going on these past few weeks.

“...I take fencing classes, Greg. I  _ highly _ doubt that’s the same thing as legitimate swordplay.”

“Well, it’s something at least. And it can’t really hurt, can it?” Emphasizing his point is the sound of Amethyst slamming into the windshield of Greg’s car, and Steven bouncing along nearby in a bubble, the two having evidently been thrown off by the serpentine beast.

“B-but this is a  _ spear _ ! This isn’t even a sword! How am I supposed to-”

“PEARL!” Garnet’s shout cuts the pale gem off, as the fusion attempts to grapple the writhing form of the corrupted gem. “I don’t care how confident you are! just HELP!” Her grip on the monster is lost when the Slinker… flickers for a moment, it’s body seeming to phase in and out of existence briefly, before reconstituting after a short time. It screeches at Garnet, and leaps headlong at the fusion.

Pearl stares in horror. “Oh. Geeze. I- Oh to hell with it. Have at thee, you disgusting affront to nature!” The thin gem runs at the Slinker, before performing a graceful leap, and stabbing downwards with her spear, lodging the blue-tinted blade deep into the monster’s back. The Slinker screeches in protest, and shakes back and forth violently, attempting to buck Pearl off. Pearl, despite her reservations, tries her damndest to hang on. But the sudden and rapid shifting of the Slinker’s form prove too much, and she is bucked off, her spear dissipating into sparkles shortly thereafter. “Damnit!” Pearl cries, before pulling another spear from her forehead and charging the beast once more.

The battle rages for multiple minutes, with moments of glory for all. A particularly impressive moment is when the Slinker, violently attempting to break through Steven’s bubble, is caught by Amethyst’s whip and swung around her, before being released into Garnet’s waiting fist, a swift uppercut sending it hurtling skyward. Pearl had less luck though, often getting slapped away, disoriented, and thrown off-balance due to the unfamiliar weight and gravity of the weapon she’s using. A good ways into the fight, after being smacked into the side of the Fryman’s shop, Pearl glares angrily at her spear.

“You stupid piece of junk!” She growls at the weapon in her hands. “I. Am. A. FENCER. Not a spearwoman. This is not what I’ve trained for! Oh, if only you were a sword…” And then, much to Pearl’s surprise and wonder, the spear complies, shortening its length and slightly altering its dimensions until it resembled that of a sabre. “...Huh. I… Didn’t know it did that.”

As Pearl stares in wonder, Amethyst calls out to the bemused gem. “Hey P! A little help over here!” Amethyst shouts, having been caught in the coil of the Slinker’s reticulated form, and being quickly squeezed into submission. Pearl, regaining her confidence and unwilling to waste any more time, rushes the Slinker, seeming to almost skate across the boardwalk as she performs a thrusting attack upon the beast’s torso, causing it grievous pain and forcing it to release the purple gem. Amethyst looks up gratefully at her saviour, gasping for air. “Hah... Hah... Thanks for the save P. When did you learn how to fight?”

Pearl smirks. “Over ten years ago, courtesy of the Diamond family’s insanely deep pockets!” And, once more she is into the fray.

The fight goes well, and time and time again, the Slinker is beaten back. But, as the minutes draw close to an hour, a certain fact has become self evident. The Slinker, despite suffering more than enough damage to be poofed multiple times, simply… Doesn’t. Every time one of the gems lands a critical blow, one that should have destabilized the monstrous creature, its form seems to flicker and shift, expanding as if to poof, but then jitters back to normal, as if it were being dragged back into a nebulous state of existence by some unseen force. This constant back and forth is brought to a close when, in a time of weakness, the Slinker pierces through the gem’s lines and jumps headlong into the beach, disappearing beneath the shifting sands in front of the boardwalk.

Steven is the first to speak up, gasping for breath after such a hard fought battle. “That… Was… Ridiculous…” He mutters, before falling to his knees in exhaustion. Amethyst follows suit, flopping onto her back as she groans with soreness.

“Yeah… Why the heck didn’t that dumb vine-thing poof, anyways?” She asks in the general direction of Garnet and Pearl.

Pearl looks ponderously at the rapidly-filling hole that the slinker had left in the sand. “It looked like… Like it was  _ trying _ to poof, but couldn’t.”

“As if it always stopped halfway.” Garnet posited as well.

“Hey, yeah! It was like it kept… glitching every time we took it down.” Steven adds, happy to be of help.

Garnet pipes in. “The thing is though, I’ve been tracking it for weeks now, and it was much more ‘glitchy’ previously, back when it’s attacks were further from the temple.”

“So what you’re saying is… Whatever chance we have of ending this thing, it’ll only be possible  _ once it’s in your base _ ?” Pearl questions, worry clear in her voice.

“It’s not a fun option, but it’s all we have.” Garnet adds grimly.

Steven sighs. “It’s never easy, is it?”

Amethyst rises to her feet. “Nope! Now then, let’s get back to the barn. We do NOT want to stick around long enough to explain why Fish Stew Pizza now has natural ventilation and a brand new skylight.”

The ground gets a ride back to the barn with Greg, Amethyst excitedly badgering Pearl about her fencing the entire way back. 

Getting out of the van, they see little to no progress made on the drill, with Peridot just standing there, staring at the chalkboard. 

She turns around to face the Crystal Gems. “Could  _ someone _ explain to me  _ why _ we are at a barn full of airplane parts, with blueprints drawn on a chalkboard for what appears to be a drill designed to withstand ludicrous amounts of pressure?”

\---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \----

“We…” Pearl crosses her arms. “We need to find the Slinker. We can’t let them meet up.”

“No, really? I was just gonna say that we should let the universes end.” Amethyst snarks, rolling her eyes. “News flash though P, other than the other you and Garnet, we don’t exactly know how to fight.”

Pearl is silent for a moment, staring at Amethyst with narrowed eyes. “Are you, or are you not a wrestler?”

“Like wrestling would be useful against a mons-”

“That’s how the other you fights like… 70% of the time!” Pearl snaps, cutting Amethyst off. “So, yes, I think you could be helpful. Honestly, as it’s only half here, it’s probably only at half power.” She weaves her fingers together under her lips and starts pacing. “I’m… I’m not entirely sure if it will be able to poof at all, given its spilt state, but if we could just drive it further away from the manor for the time being, it should give us time to come up with a permanent solution.”

“So, basically you want us to fight this thing to stall for time?” Amethyst groans. “We’re just a friggin stall for you…”

“We NEED time if we don’t want the universes to end!” Pearl runs her hands through her hair. “Why are you acting offended!?” She sighs. “You keep acting like we have something against you!”

“THAT’S BECAUSE YOU DO!” Amethyst takes a deep breath. “You guys treat pretty much all of us normal humans like we’re inferior- well your Steven doesn’t, but whatever- but you wanna know what I think?” She takes another breath, steeling herself. “I think we’re better off than you! All of you! You’re a living train wreck! The other me has issues with being made or whatever! And even the other Garnet seems slightly off!” She crosses her arms. “So, yeah.”

“… It’s…” Pearl shakes her head. “Okay, I can only speak for myself, but it’s not that I think… you’re inferior, strictly speaking, but that you’re just  _ inexperienced _ . That’s all… and you…” She sighs, shaking her head again. “You’re acting like stalling the Slinker isn't vital. It needs doing in my universe as well as this one. It’s something incredibly important and I’m telling you that it needs to be done. And that you can do it. Are you not listening to the words actually coming out of my mouth?”

Amethyst narrows her eyes, and looks like she’s about to say more, and Garnet’s hand on her shoulder stops her. 

“How do we find it?” 

Pearl smiles gratefully at Garnet. “Move outward from here until we locate its wherabouts.” She pauses, her smile slipping away into a grim expression. “It’s likely close.”

They find it rather quickly, ravaging the board walk, with people all over the beachside freaking out about the destruction being caused by what seems to be nothing at all.

“Alright. There are no tunnels for it to hide in here.” She glances at Garnet- who has her shades off and is staring at it with wide eyes- and Amethyst who’s staring-looking just as bewildered as all of the civilians- at the destruction. 

“What the heck…” Amethyst mutters. “What’s… what’s causing this?”

“Can you not see it?” Garnet looks down at Amethyst. “It’s the Slinker.”

“What? The monster thi- aaaaaa!” Amethyst's eyes widen and she stumbles back, now seeing the monster the other two already saw. 

“We need to, at the very least, get it away from these unwitting humans.”

“I have a better idea.” Garnet returns her sunglasses to her face, and takes a deep breath, before shouting at the top of her lungs. “EVERYONE! OFF THE BOARDWALK! POLICE BUSINESS!” The assorted populace, both eager to not be crushed by the invisible horror, and also more than slightly scared of their local law enforcer, quickly dissipate, fleeing the carnage on the boardwalk.

Pearl looks at the policewoman, more than slightly impressed. “Well then… That works.”

“Of course it did. That’s why I did it.” Garnet enters a fighting stance. “Now then, come on girls, let’s take this thing down.” And she commands, before running at the snake-like Slinker.

Amethyst shrugs. “Ah well, can’t avoid it; might as well have fun!” The latin woman rushes at the beast as well, tackling it and attempting to grapple with the creature.

Steven… just sort of looks around, vaguely dumbfounded. “Uhh… What do I do?” He turns to Pearl questioningly.

The transplanted gem looks at him with uncertainty. “Well… The other you can summon a shield, so I don’t really know how much help you could b-”

“Oh! I got it!” Steven grabs the lid off of a nearby trashcan, and runs forward, blocking an oncoming sideswipe from the Slinker that had been aimed at Garnet.

Watching the ensuing fight, Pearl is almost beside herself. “Steven! Stop that! You can’t fight! You’ll get hurt!”

It is Amethyst who responds to her worry, grappled to the top of the Slinker, and attempting to direct it into any and all available walls. “I don’t know if you noticed P, but we’re all kinda in over our heads here!”

Garnet adds in, holding the Slinker back as it rapidly switches direction and attempts to shove her into a wall. “We’re all trying our best, despite our weakness compared to you gems. The  _ least  _ you can do is try just as hard!”

Pearl is at a loss for words, utterly taken aback at the sheer amounts of bravery from her friends human parallels. Suddenly filled with resolve, the gem-woman notices a loose section of piping on the side of Fish Stew Pizza, having been knocked out of alignment in  the Slinker’s rampage. Thinking quickly, and with the a few moments of effort, she manages to pry the long section of tubing from its mooring, and was currently holding a pipe with the surprisingly conveniently similar dimensions to that of your average spear. “If you’re all willing to try…” She twirls the pipe around her hands, throwing it up in the air, only to catch it and poise it straight towards the battle with the Slinker. “Then I might as well give it my all. Have at thee you interdimensional cretin!” And, with that less-than-stellar battlecry, the gem-turned-human runs at the Slinker joining her friends in the fight for the boardwalk.

The battle is not elegant, nor is it easy, but it seems that, for all the odds stacked against them, the humans were coming out on top. The Slinker, unused to any actual combined opposition to its pandimensional rampage, is put on the defencive, having to divert all its attention to simply dodging the lightning fast jabs from Garnet, the merciless shield bashes from Steven, the stabs and swings from Pearl, and the more than occasional  _ suplex _ from Amethyst. Despite this unending onslaught, the creature would not poof, nor would it even slow, seeming to possess within it a momentum and driving purpose far more powerful than any mortal pain. However, even despite its iron-wrought determination, repeated assault eventually turned the creature away, forcing it to take an opening in the fray and leap over the humans, and into the beach beside the boardwalk, disappearing into the sands below.

“Ugh!” Pearl groans. “That is the  _ opposite _ of the direction we needed it to go…” She sighs. “Let’s… let’s go get Peridot, and we can look over the deed at my house.”

They meet up with her halfway down the Beach stomping towards them. She stops, glaring up at Pearl. “I blame you for this!” She snaps. “Crystal clods… upsetting the dimensions… making it so the Earth will be destroyed  _ faster…” _

Pearl smacks her hand to her forehead. “Oh  _ no. _ You switched. Great. Now two aerospace engineers have to figure out how to build a drill…”


	23. Matchmaking and Memories

### Chapter 20

#### Matchmaking and Memories

“Okay, so let me get this straight.” Peridot mutters. “We are building a drill that is supposed to go to the center of the Earth. To get some sort of necromantic mad science gem experiment to step it from destroying the planet?”

“That is correct.” Pearl crosses her arms. “I know, it’s weird, but the entire Earth is at stake, and you and I are the only ones here with any sort of mechanical skill, so we have to try to figure it out.”

“Well…” Peridot scowls, squinting at the chalkboard. “It’s your design, you figure it out.” 

Pearl sighs, and looks between the chalkboard and their collection of parts. “I think…” She pauses, biting her lip, and crouches down to the ground next to a part. “I think this is the part that flows the ground around the drill head through some weird quirk of physics.”

“Ugh,” Peridot groans. “WHICH physics? Quantum or regular?”

“I DON'T KNOW.” Pearl snaps. “I think Gem science actually bridged the gap between them!”

“… You can’t be serious?”

“Well,  apparently my counterpart designed a plane that could theoretically go lightspeed, so I don't know!” Pearl shrugs. 

Peridot sighs. “I suppose that’s not even accounting for all the ACTUAL MAGIC that they do. I can't tell where the magic ends and the science begins!” 

Pearl groans, hanging her head. “Why can't everything just go back to  _ normal _ ?”

“I…” Peridot looks up at Pearl, frowning slightly. “Don't know if I can agree with that sentiment, actually.”

Pearl is silent for a moment. “…Well your counterpart wasn't made to be a slave, so it's probably better for you.” She scowls and looks away.

“I…” Peridot shakes her head. “Don't think you're giving the other me enough leeway here. I… Get flashes of her home, at best.” She lets out a heavy breath, looking somewhat forlorn. “But what I see, isn't very nice. NO ONE is happy with Homeworld. You either get the short stick, or the slightly longer short stick. Life sucks all around.” She pauses. “At home, I’m just pretending I have friends. No one really likes me, but here? For the most I’ve been treated kindly, even despite my… awkward introduction to this universe. People here- mostly Steven, but Amethyst and Garnet to some extent- are willing to talk to be, and seem to at the very least tolerate my company. I  _ like _ it here. It’s a real world Science Fantasy, and I actually have some semblance of  _ friends _ ? That’s… that’s the best I could ever hope for.”

Pearl is dead silent for a moment, just staring a Peridot. “I… thought you were friends with Jessamine? You always hung out around her in school.”

“Does that mean we were friends?” Peridot asks sharply. “Because it sure as heck felt like I was her secretary…” She pauses, frowning at the ground. “Up until the point I became her ACTUAL secretary, and then I felt like her slave. Everything she wanted, I had to give.”

“… I wouldn't actually know. If you didn't notice, I avoided her like the plague except when I couldn't.” Pearl crosses her arms, frowning. “It's amazing how little I managed to see of her when we lived in the same house and were both in fencing class together.”

Peridot laughs bitterly. “You know, there was a time when I envied that you got to spend so much time with her. That you got to live with her. That you got to fence with her. When I wished I could spend HALF that much time with her. But now…” She shakes her head. “Now I'm not so sure.”

“I…” Pearl laughs weakly. “I always knew Jesse and the others were rotten. I used to hide behind Rose like she was shield from her sisters, but sometimes now a days…” She ducks head, staring at her left hand where the ring would be. “Ah, nevermind.”

“I guess we both never really ‘grew up’ until recently, huh?” Peridot murmurs.

Pearl glances over at Steven, smiling at him, her eyes shining. “If 12 years can be considered recent…”

Peridot glances over at Steven “Him?” She shakes her head. “ _ He's _ the reason you got better?”

Pearl nods slightly, a small smile still on her face. “I had to learn quickly how to cope without Rose, and how to take care of a child at the same time. He's everything to me.” She sighs. “I can only guess as to why my counterpart didn't seem to improve like I did…”

“Maybe…” Peridot bites her lip, glancing at Steven again. “Maybe their Steven was too good at his job? We all seem to be weird parodies of ourselves in this world. Maybe her Steven was such a massive emotional crutch, she never felt like she had to change?”

Pearl shakes her head, her brow furrowing. “No… I don't think so. Steven seems the least different. She…” She lets out a slow breath. “She almost seems like she's still grieving.”

“Well…” Peridot grins. “I'm glad at least you turned out okay. I mean, look at you! You bounced back hard when Rose left. You grew up, got a job, and fixed your life. And look at you now! You're smart, funny, prett-” She cuts herself off with cough, her face flooding with colour. “Uh- Well- I- S-So what if that Pearl is still stuck in the past? At least you turned out okay.”

Pearl smiles. “I was in a bad place for a few years after Rose was gone, but I couldn’t let it show. I had to be an adult and a parent.” She sighs sadly. “It's just… To a certain extent, this is all bringing some bad things back, including some crap from before I ever even met Rose that I never thought I'd even think about again.” She pauses, and smirks at Peridot. “And Amethyst told me that you said you pegged me as a Dom.”

Peridot’s face darkens even further. “I-I-I-I Can explain! See, it wasn't like, a BDSM thing or anything, it was just, like, a vague guess at your demeanour in a sexual setting- GAH! Not that I ever imagined you like that! It was just, uh, oh man I had this flow chart and everything in my journal!”

Steven, who’s clearly barely paying attention as he’s playing tic tac toe with Amethyst, shouts over. “She's lying! She's totally into you Pearl!”

“STEVEN!!!” Peridot screeches. “THE HELL!?!”

Steven looks over at the two engineers. “What? It's not my universe, and I've always wanted to play matchmaker.”

“That is SO not okay, Steven!” Peridot screeches. 

Pearl chuckles. “I never said I hated you for it. It’s  _ weird _ that you speculated on that, but I don’t hate you for liking me.”

“That is SUPER okay, Steven!”

Pearl clears her throat. “Perhaps we should get back to trying to figure out this drill? This entire planet IS at risk.”

“Ah, uhm, right. Let's… Do that thing, yes. So, do you think the other you will wear the drill- RIDE, ride the drill. Wait, crap, that made it worse!”

Pearl sighs, covering her face with her hands. “Okay. Steven is  _ right _ over there, and he's obviously listening to us to some extent! Try to keep it clean!”

“Oh! Right! Sorry.” She turns to Steven, shouting over her shoulder “It's really not as weird as it sounds! It's actually not that strange logistically, all you have to do is- MGPGHGMGHHHHM.” Pearl smacks her hands over Peridot’s mouth muffling her words, though doing nothing to disguise the lewd hand gestures she’s making. 

Steven shuts his eyes. “Didn't Pearl already tell you to not talk about it to me!” He covers his ears, and after a few minutes the two engineers actually start working on the drill.

Hours pass, and the two- while occasionally drawing on memories of their counterparts- start making progress on the machine. 

The progress is halted when she accidentally drops a heavy piece of machinery on her foot, and she can’t get it picked back up.

“Does… does that hurt?” 

“Not really. It’s… mostly just pressure.”

“Odd. Uhm. Let me tr-”

“NO! What if you can barely lift it, then drop it again on my foot!?” 

“… That doesn’t seem li-”

“I don’t want to take any chances!” Peridot snaps, and again tries pulling it out.

“Yeeeeah, because that worked so well the f-”

Peridot stumbles backward, her entire right leg left behind, still wedged under the machinery, revealing a much smaller leg. 

“W-wha?” She stammers, staring at her now much shorter limb. 

“Awww!” Steven squees and runs over, grinning. “Look how little your leg is! How cute! Pearl! Look how cute Peridot's little leg is!”

Pearl easily removes the machinery from Peridot’s leg, and looks over. “… She has legs in this universe? I had assumed that it was just an advanced prosthetic.”

“I have a leg!” Peridot screeches. “An actual leg!” She tries to stand, and fails completely, falling back over, due to the drastic difference in the length of her legs. 

Pearl walks over and sits down next to Peridot “I…” She frowns. “Suppose gems wouldn't have amputated limbs, though I never would have guessed that her's… uh, yours?” She shakes her head. “Whatever. I never would have guess that they were artificial extenders…” Pearl pulls on her arm curiously “I wonder if your arms are as well? It would explain how disproportionate this version of you is, as well as your detached fingers…” Pearl must have hit something on the limb enhancer, since the arm detaches, sliding right off of Peridot, and the fingers from the arm fall to the ground, scattering everywhere. Pearl turns the now detached limb over in her hands, studying it. “Hmm.”

Steven squees again. “Aaaaa! Your arm is tiny and cute too!”

Peridot flexes her fingers, and looks over at Steven. “Don't call me cute.”

“Buuut you're ADORABLE.” He squeals, grinning at her.

Peridot sighs. “Just help me find my fingers in this grass. They went everywhere. I gotta say though, going from a universe where I have zero legs to one where I have TWO sets, I can't say I'm unhappy.”

Steven blinks several times. “Why don't you have legs in the other universe?”

Peridot looks away, clearly very uncomfortable.

Pearl looks up from studying Peridot's arm, her eyes wide. “Steven!” She reprimands. “That is not the kind of question you ask people!”

“Uuuuuh.” Steven fidgets awkwardly. “Uhm. Why not? I thought it was a reasonable question.”

“You-Steven-th-y-what-n…” Pearl sputters. 

Peridot holds up a hand, stopping Pearl. “No. It's fine.” She frowns. “When I was very young some stupid clod slammed into the side of my Mom's car, and caused a massive accident. Long story short, both my mother and I were hospitalized, and my injuries resulted in both my legs needing to be amputated. Mom came home with cuts and bruises…” She sighs. “I came home in a wheelchair,  _ missing _ from the knees down.”

“… Oh.” Steven murmurs, frowning.

“‘Oh?’” Pearl shakes her head. “Steven, what did you  _ think _ her answer was going to be? People aren't just born without legs. Well, not commonly enough to assume it, anyways.”

“I… I didn't really think anything.” He squeaks. “I-I didn't… I just… it sounded so strange, the idea of not having legs. I'm sorry!” He ducks his head.

“Nonono!” Peridot waves her hands wildly. “Steven it's okay! I've made peace with what happened. It was decades ago; I moved on! I've been walking on prosthetic legs since I was a kid. It's really not even noticeable if you meet me.”

Pearl frowns, looking away and murmuring to herself. “It sounded strange? How little have these people shown this Steven about the world they live in? What else doesn't he know, because they never thought to tell him?”

“Uhm. O-okay. If you say so.” Steven smiles, but that quickly crumbles as he hears Pearl. He  glances over at her. “The other you teaches me most things.”

“That's… Not really super okay, Steven.” She wrings her hands. “Sure, I don't doubt my other half's intelligence, those blueprints are proof enough of that. But, she doesn't seem like she's the most… In-tune with certain things. And I imagine you miss out on a lot of knowledge because of the limits of her purview. One viewpoint and one viewpoint only is never good, it creates unhealthy biases and opinions, one's not based in fact.”

“Uhm.” Steven blinks several times. “Garnet teaches me some stuff too. And… Amethyst talks to me about stuff.”

“That doesn't really fix my issue-” She sighs, shaking her head. “Nevermind. You're a great child Steven, and I hope you never forget that. I just worry for your education.”

“Connie says it's just homeschooling, and it's not like I'm the only kid ever to be homeschooled…”

“Yes. But you  _ ARE _ the first to kid ever to be homeschooled by sentient rock aliens.” She shrugs. “So there's that.”

“Oh, enough of this bickering.” She takes a deep breath. “Steven? Why don't you help Amethyst clean out any spare circuitry from the barn? We could use everything we can find.”

“Okey-doke!” Steven darts off, and he and Amethyst of into the barn.

Peridot watches Steven dart off. “… You really think he's gonna be okay?”

Pearl sighs, crossing her arms. “I don't think anyone here is 'okay', Peridot. Anyone at all. But, if someone had to end up fine at the end of all this…” She smiles as Steven excitedly caries things out of the bard. “It would be him.”

They continue working on the drill, actually making great progress on it. 

Pearl steps back from their work. “Okay, so, we need an actual drill head.”

“Oh! Oh! The place I was in when I first switched had these things that had drill heads about the right size!”

“Hmm?” Pearl frowns. “Uh, I think they’re called Injectors-” The image of the bacteriophage-looking devices projects from Pearl’s gem, and she winces. “It keeps doing  _ this _ . Ugh, while I’m sure it’s incredibly useful to be able to create whatever visual representation you need at any time, it’s  _ incredibly _ annoying when you don’t know how to use it!”

“Well, yes, that is exactly what I’m talking about.” She pauses. “I… would prefer an escort. I don’t really want to go back there alone.” 

Steven grins. “Me and Amethyst can go with you!”

“… Yeah, that works.”

Steven, Amethyst and Peridot go to the Kindergarten, going over towards the broken injector not far from the warp pad. 

“God, this place is just as creepy as I remember…” Peridot mutters, her free floating fingers weaving themselves together. “I mean the giant people-shaped holes in the…” She stops, just staring at her fingers. “… Huh.”

Steven smiles at her. “What?”

“Touch stumps.”

“… Huh?” Steven tilts his head to the side, clearly confused.

“Touch stumps.” Peridot shakes her head. “That's what they're called. Or, rather, that's what she calls them. It's so strange, she has an entirely separate biological lexicon.”

“Weeeeird.” Steven says slowly.

Amethyst snorts. “Weird? That's funny! What does she call…” She pauses for a moment. “Eyes!?”

“Uhhh…” Peridot frowns. “Oh! Vision spheres.”

Amethyst laughs loudly, which echos in the canyon. “Noses?”

“Scent sponge.”

Amethyst cracks up laughing, leaning forward on her knees. “Oh, MAN, this is hilarious. Uuuuh. Feet!”

Peridot sighs, getting kind of bored with this. “Gravity connectors…” She shakes her head. “Man this is weird! It's like a library is in my head.”

“What other weirdness does she have?” Amethyst grins. “I'm pretty sure I heard her call a screwdriver a 'leverage optimizer’”

“Yeah, she's full of all this weird terminology.” Peridot pauses, then smiles widely. “But the really interesting knowledge is what she knows about gem stuff. Like, their hierarchy and caste structure. Hey! I even know what this Kindergarten made!”

“It made gems. Like me!” Amethyst grins widely.

“Yes!” Peridot nods. “Quartz, like you. Well, not really like  _ YOU _ , but more or less.”

“Dude, I was made here.” Amethyst rolls her eyes. “Of course it made gems like me. It made ME.”

“Well, yes.” Peridot pauses. “But it wasn't  _ supposed _ to make you.”

Amethyst’s eyes narrow. “...What are you talking about?”

“Near as I can tell, this Kindergarten was specialized in making Quartz- though, uh, that might be all Kindergartens, I’m not sure.” Peridot shrugs. “Quartzs are big, burly soldiers. Like Jasper. You're…Not.” She looks around. “Oh look! Over here!” She rushes over to the smallest hole. “This must be where you came from. See how much smaller it is compared to the other holes in the wall? I bet it also probably made you late as well, that would account for the malformed growth!”

“Malformed?” Amethyst practically growls at Peridot through clenched teeth. “I  _ LIKE _ my form!"

“Well, that may be so, but that doesn't change the fact that it made you incorrectly.” Peridot shrugs. “You should've been almost three times your size. But instead you're as tall as I am without these limb enhancers.”

“… So what, are you saying I'm broken?” Amethyst snaps, glaring at Peridot with her arms crossed.

“Not broken.” Peridot taps her chin. “Merely… Unsatisfactory. If memory serves, whenever Homeworld encountered someone to your specifications after debriefing a Kindergarten, they performed some process known as "Harvesting", which-” Peridot pauses, shuddering. “Yeesh.  _ There's _ a way to go.”

Amethyst is silent for a moment. “I would have been KILLED!?”

“Well, so far as gems CAN die.” Peridot shrugs. “There's always heated debate as to whether or not the dust can still feel pain. Man, this is so cool!”

“Do you even care about what you just said to me!?” Amethyst snaps.

“Huh?” Peridot blinks several times. “Why should I? This isn't my world. I'm just stating facts in my head. It's like learning the lore of some fancy novel, right in my brain.”

“I AM NOT A STORY!” Amethyst screeches. 

“Hey! What're you getting mad at me for?” Peridot rolls her eyes. “Just cut off the drill head. You can do it, Quartz are built to be strong. I think it still works even though you weren't made quite right.”

Amethyst pulls out her whip and cleanly cuts off the drill head. “There.” 

The group goes back to the barn with the drill head. 

“That was fun! Right Amethyst?” Peridot grins at Amethyst. Both Steven and Amethyst stare at her in silence. Peridot’s smiles slowly grows more forced. “Heh. Right?” Amethyst walks away. “Right!?” Peridot screeches. “Steven! Explain why she’s acting like this!  _ Please _ !” 

“… You really hurt her feelings, Peridot.” Steven frowns. “Coming from the Kindergarten at all… well, she doesn’t act like it, but it’s a sensitive issue for her, and I think you just made it worse.”

“… CRAP.” Peridot runs quickly over to Amethyst. “Amethyst! Amethyst! Listen, listen, okay, okay, well, uh.” She clears her throat, almost crumbling under Amethyst’s steely gaze. She takes a deep breath. “I am sorry. I did not by any means intend to offend you. I’ve never really had friends before, and I don’t want to lose the first friends I’ve ever made. This is all so new and startling to me, constantly, and I was… momentarily distracted by the feeling of being in my favorite genre of literature, that I failed to even remotely consider your feelings on the matter.” She takes a deep breath. “I realize that your life is not just some story for me to enjoy. I can't just look at it like it's something cool. You and the rest of the gems are people I know, people I care about. I have as active a role in this story as anyone else... And, for once, I wanna make it a good one.”

Amethyst slowly smiles at Peridot. “Good to hear.”

\---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \----

“Okay. Okay. So that wasn’t exactly a  _ success  _ as the Slinker DID go onto the Beach, but at least we got it away from where it’s likely to harm civilians. We just need to think up a new plan.”

Amethyst blinks several times at Pearl. “How can you keep doing that!?” She shakes her head. “How can you stay so  _ calm _ at a time like this? We nearly DIED out there, and we don't get so much as a thank you?! Do we not matter to you?”

Pearl is silent for a moment. “… Sorry?” She says it like a question. “It's just not unusual to me. I mean, I appreciate the help. It's just that this… it's nothing new for me. I guess I didn't consider that it is for you…”

Amethyst scoffs. “Of  _ course _ you didn't.” She scowls, crossing her arms. “Because you haven't considered a single one of our feelings up until this point, so why start now?” She lets out a breath through clenched teeth. “Do you realize how utterly selfish you've been all this time? This whole time, you've been acting like the switching has been an utter horror for you and your friends, but just a nuisance to us. Do you think any of us are OKAY with this? Do you think WE were taking any of this CRAZY in stride?”

“It IS a horror to us!” Peridot responds before Pearl can. “I DON'T HAVE LEGS!”

“And I don't have parents!” Amethyst snaps. “Get over yourself! And that's not even AS BAD as your world. Over there, I wasn't even born! I was MADE!”

Peridot is silent for a moment. “… So? All gems are. That's not unusual. You're an AMETHYST. A quartz! You're actually important! Defective or not!”

Pearl smacks her hand to her forehead, groaning. “Shut up Peridot.” She sighs. “I've never said that it wasn't bad for you guys…”

“But you've never voiced concern for us either, have you?” Amethyst retorts, glowering at Pearl. “Everything you do is so damn clinical. It's like we're a bunch of observations, some variables to account for. Not actual people.”

Pearl scowls, anger breaking through her calm demeanor. “Well  _ EXCUSE ME  _ for trying to think logically and  _ maybe _ come up with a way to FIX it. I've never once thought of you as less than people, I've just been trying to cope with this CHAOS!”

“And that's how you cope huh?” Amethyst crosses her arms. “Shutting everybody out and acting like you can just fix everything? God! You're  _ just _ like she was!”

Pearl whirls around, her back to Amethyst, running her hands through her hair, before turning back around towards the shorter girl. “WHAT DO YOU EVEN MEAN BY THAT!?”

“I  _ MEAN _ that you're an asocial jerk who frequently forgets that people also have issues!” Amethyst takes a deep breath. “OUR Pearl figured out she had trouble relating to people over 10 goddamn years ago, and went to get therapy! YOU never bothered, because you were too busy GRIEVING!”

Tears can be seen in Pearl’s eyes, but she fights them back, glaring hard at Amethyst. “Are you seriously blaming me for grieving?  _ SERIOUSLY _ !?” She shakes her head. “I know I'm FAR from perfect, but you're blaming me for  _ grieving _ ? News flash:  _ EVERYONE _ grieved for Rose!” 

“Not for TWELVE YEARS they didn't!”

Pearl scowls, ducking her head and going dead silent for a moment. When she does speak, it’s quiet, and her tone is dark “…Why don't you tell that to your alternate who still takes in out on Greg…”

“ _ Right _ .” Amethyst spits. “MY alternate takes it out on Greg. I'm sure. Not you, noooo, you're a PARAGON of objectivity!”

Pearl takes a deep breath. “Well I certainly don't shapeshift into Rose just to antagonize him!"

“THAT IS NOT THE THE SAME THING P!” Amethyst screams. “That isn’t… the same… thing…” She trails off, staring at the floor, as she fully comprehends the memory.”I… I never said I liked HER either.”

“Look, I don't care if you don't like me.” She crosses her arms, scowling. “THAT was made perfectly clear before.” She looks away from amethyst, once again clearly fighting back tears. “But this aggression is POINTLESS and does NO good towards stopping the UNIVERSES FROM BEING DESTROYED.”

“You…” Amethyst frowns at Pearl, all aggression evaporated in an instant. “You think I don't like you?”

Pearl sighs, still not looking at Amethyst. “That much is obvious…”

“Damnit P.” Amethyst groans. “I'm not saying this because I don't like you! I'm saying this because the opposite is true! You're my sis!” She steps closer to Pearl, gently putting a hand on her arm. “I grew up with the other you. And it… It HURTS to see you act like this, to see any version of you still be in such a dark place after all these years…”

Peridot snorts. “Like it matters? She's hardly a person.”

Pearl quite suddenly turns and punches Peridot, utterly blindsiding the gem-girl. She takes a deep breath and turns to face Amethyst. “Just ignore her….” She clears her throat. “Look, I  _ know _ I have a lot to work through.” She closes her eyes. “Heavens, everything that happened with Sardonyx made that  _ PAINFULLY _ clear, but you've gotta give me time to figure it all out…”

Amethyst sighs. “… You promise to try?”

Pearl nods slowly, opening her eyes. “I promised Garnet, and I promise you as well. I can't just… give up.”

Amethyst smiles and pulls Pearl into a hug. “There she is. There's my Pearl.”

Peridot grumbles to herself while rubbing her face where Pearl punched her. “This is ridiculous.”

Amethyst, still hugging Pearl, kicks Peridot in the leg, throwing her off-kilter, and causing her to fall.

“AAAARH!” She props herself up on her elbows. “THAT WAS UNCALLED FOR!”

Steven, while looking at the two hug, glances at Peridot briefly. “Hey, Peridot?”

“What is it, you Steven?”

“Could you please, like, shut up for a bit?”

Peridot lets her head fall to the ground, and sighs. “Very well, this rug is comfy anyways…”


	24. Quick switching

### Chapter 21

#### Quick switching 

“I can’t believe you accidentally turned on the drill…” Pearl mutters under her breath while working on cleaning up the mess left from said accident. 

“It was an accident!” Peridot snaps. “I know I set us back, but I didn’t  _ mean _ to. I don’t want Earth destroyed!”

“Guys, stop fi-” Steven is cut off by the sound of his phone ringing, and he fishes it out of his pocket, answering cheerfully. “Hello!”

“Hey, Steven? Hi, it's Jamie. Listen, is there  _ supposed _ to be a giant plant-snake monster thrashing around in front of your house? Because, if so, I LOVE the aesthetic. If not, OH GOD SEND HELP BEFORE IT KILLS US ALL! In either case, I can't really reach your mailbox, so you're going to have to pick up your bag at the post office. Bye now.”

“Wait, Jamie, about that b-” Steven pulls his phone away from his ear. “He hung up.” Steven pauses. “Guys, the Slinker is like, just outside the temple, so I think we need to handle it.” 

After a brief moment of silence, in which Pearl and Peridot take a few seconds to utterly panic, they all rush back to Beach City, ready to fight the Slinker. 

They encounter the beast directly in front of the temple, raging as it encircles the area in front of the cliff face, but seeming to be held back by some unseen force, though a quick glance at the grooves in the sand tell the gems that it has steadily been drawing nearer to the temple for quite some time now. Upon noticing the group approaching it, the multidimensional beast rears up and roars at the assembled gems before it.

And this action is evidently repeated across both realities, as the gems’ counterparts stand poised before their Slinker in turn. Staring down the monster with naught but their fists, a trash can lid, and a length of metal piping.

The gem Peridot looks anxiously about. “Where is Lapis? She should be here helping us, shouldn’t she? You DID call her, right Amethyst?”

Amethyst turns to the assistant-turned-aide. “Well, yeah. But can you blame her for no-showing? I mean, the odds aren’t really in our favour here. For all we know, she could be halfway out of the state by n-” Her exposition is quickly cut off by the arrival of Greg’s van which, in an astounding feat of vehicle handling, spins one hundred and eighty degrees as it stops, its back doors bursting open to reveal Lapis Lazuli, who steps out to great her companions.

She turns towards the van. “Thanks, Uh… Greg! Appreciate the ride!”

“No problem Lapis. Oh geeze! What is that!?” Mr. Universe shouts, only semi-comprehending the corrupted gem in front of the manor.

“Uh… I think it’s a plant… snake… thing?”

“Uh, forgive my cowardice, but I think I should probably get outta here.”

“That sounds like a plan.”

“Bye girls! See ya Steven!” Greg revs up the car. “If we all live to see tomorrow, dinner’s on… well, still Pearl, actually. Anyway, bye!” And, with that, Mr. Universe speeds away from the manor, a cloud of sand kicked up in his wake.

Lapis turns to the assorted cast before her. “So… giant monster?”

“Yep.” Answers Garnet.

“Who’s switched?”

“Me, Peridot and, evidently, you.” Pearl responds.

“And we’re all going to fight it?”

“Yep!” Steven readies his makeshift shield.

“...Bring it on.” And Lapis, along with the others, rushes at the slinker.

The same is true for both worlds, in fact. Although, one could be forgiven for beginning to lose track of things as, almost immediately after the assault begins, the minds of the gems and their other selves begin rapidly switching faster than anyone can react.

The results are… less than stellar. Lapis on the gem end, attempting to wield the ocean against the Slinker, not only found the monster hard to hit in the first place, but also frequently ended up drenched for her trouble, as a switch mid-water raise left her out of focus, and caused the water to simply fall harmlessly on top of the group. This pattern of attacks being interrupted continually repeated itself, with gem and human alike over and underestimating leaps and tackles as they began losing track of whose body they were in, and the likes of Pearl and Steven were almost constantly thrown off-balance by the switches, with their weapons suddenly gaining entirely different mass distributions every time they switched minds.

One particularly egregious incident was when the mundane universe found Jasper, whose body was currently occupied by her gem self, attempting to join the fray and confront the group.

“Alright, listen here you crystal clods! I don’t know what’s going on, or why Yellow Diamond was a human on Earth, or why my skin seems to be coloured improperly. But what I DO know is that I’m going to make. You. P-” Her boast was then promptly cut off when the Slinker, seemingly echoing the opinions of the group, tail-swiped her into a second-story window in the manor. It then promptly began assaulting the assembled fighters once more, with an almost renewed fervor, having seemingly been goaded on by the homeworlder/outsider’s rant.

The battle was long, hard and, ultimately, unsuccessful. For despite all their effort and attempts at coordination, the crystal gems and their counterparts simply could not keep up with the increasingly rapid shifts, and, eventually, the Slinker’s invisible wall had faded completely, and both iterations of the creature made their breaks for their respective yet identical goals, disappearing into the individual bastions of Rose’s legacy. 

The dust settles, and the groups orient themselves, figuring out what exactly at all just… happened. 

Steven, catching his breath, glances around. “Okay, I’m switched, who else is?” 

Amethyst raises a hand. “That was CRAZY. And…” She glances up at the temple. “Very, very bad.”

“Lapis is switched and wants to know why that was  _ two _ verys worth of bad.” Lapis says breathlessly, talking in the third person.

Pearl frowns, crossing her arms. “Because… if we don’t stop them before they join, our universes may very well be destroyed.”

“Oh… Yeah, that’s definitely two verys worth of bad.”


	25. Journey to the Heart

### Chapter 22

#### Journey to the Heart 

The gems are lost.

They had been from the moment they entered the temple. The myriad alterations to the fabric of reality had utterly restructured the place they had called home. Not only did rooms connect in new and confusing ways, with downwards paths leading to rooms that were once above the one previous, but it seemed that even the split between the temple and manor had broken down almost completely, the gems frequently finding themselves exiting a luminous crystal tunnel to find themselves inside a family room, with old dusty furniture, and a long disused fireplace.

They fall through a puddle in Amethyst’s room down into a bedroom in light blues and golds. 

Amethyst groans. “UGH!” She throws hands into the air. “Back to the freaking manor!” She huffs. “This is Pearl’s old room!”

Pearl looks around. “Well, I guess my alternate’s style has changed very little over the years. This room is almost identical in aethstetic to her room at her house.” She pauses. “I must note that the puddle we fell through normally connects to my room in the temple, so I guess there’s  _ some _ small amount of logic to this absurdity.”

Lapis groans, turning away from them- running her hands through her hair. “This is all COMPLETELY INSANE!” She puts her face in her hands, and sobs. “It was kind of cool at first, but now there’s rooms not making sense, and monsters, and the potential of the universe ending…” She turns back around, wiping at her eyes. “I just don’t know if I can do this!”  

“I’m tired of all of this craziness too…” Amethyst murmurs, kicking at the rug. “I just… I just want things to go back to normal.”

Pearl sighs. “I’m with you on wanting things to go back to normal, but… We…” She lets out a slow breath. “We have to keep moving. We have to find the Slinker, and stop it. Maybe…” She takes a shaky breath. “Maybe the stupid thing will finally poof now that it’s close to its counterpart…” 

“And…” Amethyst shakes her head. “What if it doesn’t? What if whatever weird stuff happened to it made it immortal forever? Are we just…” She looks away, tears welling up in her eyes. “Are we just  _ doomed _ ?”

“… I… I don’t know.” Pearl admits, frowning. “But we have to  _ try _ .”

Garnet nods. “We can’t afford to give up now. The ONLY chance we have of succeeding is if we keep going.”

Amethyst crosses her arms. “Look, what’s the chance of us actually winning this? I mean,  _ really _ .”

“It’s one that  _ exists _ Amethyst. We have to  _ try _ !”

“Well, excuse me for losing confidence. It’s not like I’m  _ way _ out of my element or anything…”  She glares away from the others, tears streaking down her face. 

“Amethyst…” Pearl hesitantly reaches a hand towards her, but pulls it back, looking unsure. 

Lapis huffs. “This is pretty absurd. I mean, I’m a freaking  _ swimmer _ . I can’t fight monsters!”

“WOULD YOU BOTH STOP IT!” Steven steps up, looking between the other two switched individuals. He takes a deep breath. “ _ Why _ are you two doing this!? Why are you giving up?” He shakes his head. “Look, yeah, things are WEIRD in this universe, but they're also really cool and fun, and we’re getting a chance to help the world, to actually do something good for everyone. And the two of you are just… giving up?” He sighs. “We haven’t lost yet, and we can’t stop now!” He claps his hands together and smiles widely. “Come on guys! We can do this!”

Amethyst smiles at Steven. “Sheesh. If you can stay this awesome and upbeat, then we’ve got no business feeling sorry for ourselves.” She shrugs at Lapis, who sighs.

“Yeah, okay, let’s keep trying…” Lapis smiles slightly, and the group carries onward, weaving further through the composite mix between the temple and Manor.

Acting on a hunch, Pearl has them climb up through the Skylight in Rose’s bedroom- straight into the chamber of the Crystal Heart.

\---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \---- ★ \----

If they thought the manor was chaos before; it was  _ nothing _ compared to what they’ve ventured into now. The damage to reality has left the place completely restructured, with rooms connecting in strange ways, with stairs down suddenly leading up, doors going to different rooms, as if the universe can’t remember how the manor is supposed to be. But that’s not even the worst of it, with the walls between universes having broken down so far that the hapless group often finds themselves exiting from a room in the manor to the vast and dangerous temple, then back again. 

They stop, having found themselves walking down the stairs into the main Foyer of the home for what must be the 9th time, and Pearl groans, leaning back against the railing. “We went UP!” She hides her face in her hands. “We went  _ up  _ the stairs! How are we down here again?!”

“This is too much.” Peridot shakes her head. “Too much. Physics seems to be out to lunch, the destruction of both universes is imminent and a manor house seems to have turned into a MAZE!” She runs her hands through her hair. “How are we even supposed to help!? We’re just ordinary humans!” 

Lapis scoffs. “You think us gems are any better equipped to handle this?” She crosses her arms. “I didn't ask for any of this. I was on the bottom of the OCEAN when this all started!” She groans. “Honestly, I’m useless without my gem powers anyway…” 

“But, like, we’ve had gem powers on and off this whole time we’ve been in here.” Steven crosses his arms, frowning at Lapis. “Like, Garnet summoned her gauntlets earlier when that chandelier almost fell on us. And I summoned my bubble around us when it looked like the centipeetle was attacking us from the closet.”

Lapis scowls. “Oh, wow, you were able to summon your weapon- Mine isn’t exactly useful here! It’s wings! I need ready access to water to be effective, and I can't just have my powers flicker in and out!” She groans, glancing at the front door. “You know what, I’m outta here.”

She starts to walk to the door, but is stopped by Garnet’s hand on her shoulder. “Lapis. Wait.  _ None _ of us signed up for this. But we’re not quitting. We’re still trying. We are going try our very best to save both universes, and the least you could do is the same.”

“Oh come  _ on _ .” Amethyst scoffs quietly, glaring at the ground. “Just let her leave.”

“Amethyst, we’re all in this together. It doesn’t matter how useless you may feel, we need all the help we can get.” Garnet replies, staring down at the crestfallen gem-girl.

“Help to do  _ what _ ? Do we even have a  _ plan _ on our end? Last time I checked, ‘hitting it really hard’ didn’t exactly work!” The latin woman scowls.

Garnet remains stoic. “We have to keep trying. It might be vulnerable now that it’s close to its other, and we can’t let a chance like that pass us by.”

Amethyst grits her teeth in anger. “You don’t KNOW that! You don’t  _ KNOW _ anything! We’ve been working on hunches since we got here!” She growls. “And where do  _ you _ get off telling us what to do? You’re not  _ my _ Garnet, you’re just a cop!  _ My _ Garnet has been leading a planetary defence force for the last twelve years!  _ You’ve _ been living the easy life snacking on doughnuts!”

“Easy!?” Garnet snaps. “You think my life is easy!? You think I enjoy cleaning up after all your messes? Being the sane one? Never faltering, never backing down? You have NO idea about the kind of stress I’ve had to deal with!”

“N-now everyone, let’s just calm down…” Pearl tries to mediate.

“This is all falling apart! We’re all gonna die!” Peridot clutches her head as she begins to truly panic.

Lapis shouts over the din. “I  _ swear _ , if I don’t get ONE good reason to not leave in the next  _ five seconds _ I am-”

“STOOOOOOOP!” Steven shouts, and everyone falls dead silent. “This is  _ ridiculous _ ! All of you! It doesn’t  _ matter _ how scared we are. How much the odds may be against us! THE ODDS ARE  _ ALWAYS _ AGAINST US!” He takes a deep breath. “It doesn’t matter which universe we’re in, or which one we’re from. We are the Crystal Gems. And we  _ always _ save the day. We  _ can’t _ stop now, not when there’s more at risk than ever. I say we march right back up those stairs and  _ keep trying _ because that’s we do. We don’t give up. We never have. And we’re not starting now!”

After a long and pregnant silence, the group quietly agrees, and they climb the stairs, stepping up into a room filled with pink clouds. 

Steven glances around. “We’re… the slinker is trying to go to the Crystal Heart, right?” 

Amethyst nods. “I mean, probably, right?” She shrugs. “Why?”

Steven clears his throat. “I want to go to the Crystal Heart. Room, I know there’s a way.” Some clouds clear out in the distance, revealing the vein-like tubes running down through the room. “Climb those veins!” 

They run over and begin to climb up, exiting into the boiler room- which, upon entering, immediately flickers in its own existence, the number of people in the room doubling.

To all those present, a single fact is abundantly clear. The walls have broken down entirely. The universes have officially collided. They have truly, now more than ever, run out of time.


	26. Your Own Worst Critic

### Chapter 23

#### Your Own Worst Critic

Pearl locks eyes with herself as the two universes collide, and is startled by the fury she sees there.

She breaks her gaze, and stares around the room, it seeming to be both the chamber of the Crystal Heart and a dark, dusty boiler room simultaneously, and also appearing to flicker rapidly between the two. The two slinkers are snaking around the room in circles, seemingly unable to cross the gap.

“So, I finally get to meet the woman I've heard so much about.”

“Uh, hello.” Pearl turns towards her alternate, smiling awkwardly.

“A pleasure.” Her tone is flat, and her face blank, showing none of the anger from just a moment before. She crosses her arms. “You leave quite a trail in your wake, don't you?” She sighs, shaking her head. “Every time I switch, I end up face-to-face with another one of your messes.” 

“… Uh, I'm sorry?” The gem Pearl apologizes, though her questioning tone makes it clear that she’s not entirely sure as for what. 

The other Pearl sighs. “Yes, I'm sure you are.” She smiles sadly. “I'm sure you say that a lot to a lot of other people too, don't you? You always feel the need to try to fix things…”

The gem Pearl is silent for a moment. “I won't deny that, though I  _ usually _ understand what it is that I'm trying to fix…”

“Oh, do you?” The other rolls her eyes. “Do you  _ really _ understand what needs fixing? After all your years, all your millenia of life fixing things, do you  _ truly _ understand the real problem?”

“What are you getting at?” She sighs, crossing her arms. “I never thought I would be annoyed at my own habit of dragging on a point…”

“Well, if you feel I'm off on a tangent, allow me to be concise.” She takes a step closer, pointing at the gem Pearl. “ _ You _ are the problem. All your life, you've been your own worst enemy, and time and time again you fail to  _ SEE _ that until it's too late.”

Pearl scowls at her human counterpart. “You say this, but we're _ the same person _ .”

“NO. WE ARE NOT!” The human girl stamps her foot, glaring at the gem. “I am NOT like you! Not anymore! I've been running away from that me for the past decade of my life! And when I finally thought I'd managed to escape you, finally managed to grow and get better, all of  _ THIS _ nonsense has to happen, and bring every nagging little concern in the back of my brain right out to the forefront!”

Pearl’s hands clench tightly into fists. “Look, I'm not pretending I'm flawless, but I don't need you people throwing my flaws back in my face every other day!” She snaps.

“Well, maybe we'd be more kind if they weren't BLATANT and CRIPPLING!” She shakes her head. “We aren't pointing out your flaws to make you feel bad! We're pointing them out because someone has to. Because someone how to show you just how low you stand. Someone has to tell you to GROW UP! Because lord knows you'll never do it on your own.”

Pearl throws her head back, running her hands through her hair. “I WOULD HAVE REALIZED IT JUST FINE WITHOUT YOU!” She takes a deep breath, calming herself down. “I  _ have been _ realizing on my own without any of this. Heavens, I would have at least figured your Amethyst would have told you about how I  _ OPENLY ADMITTED _ my problems to Garnet and promised to work on them!” She wipes at her eyes.

“Oh, I know about that conversation with Garnet. I am INTIMATELY familiar with that conversation with Garnet. And do you know why that is, Pearl?”

The gem rolls her eyes. “Because Amethyst told you?”

“No.” The human says flatly. “Because I HAD that conversation with Garnet over _ ten years ago _ !” She shakes her head. “I poured out my heart to her, and she comforted me. I learned I needed help, and I started moving forward. I'm not mad because you have problems, I'm mad because you STILL have the EXACT SAME ONES I had over a decade ago!”

Pearl grits her teeth, glaring hard at her alternate. “There is NO way your problems EVER compared to mine!”

The human Pearl raises her eyebrows. “Living your life as an accessory, someone else's plaything. Being lost, scared and alone for what felt like forever until a beautiful shining beacon of light came into your life. Devoting your entire life to the woman who gave off that light. Falling in love with her. Pledging everything you were in service of her. Losing her. Then…” She sighs. “Losing her forever…” Tears well up in her eyes as she stares down her alternate. “Does… Does that sound familiar?”

The gem Pearl fights back tears as she glares at the human her. “Like you would understand what it's like to be considered nothing more than a toy. What are you comparing it to? Your birth parents!?” She laughs bitterly. “Yeah, because  _ that _ was a large portion of your life!”

“What?” The human snaps. “And it was a comparatively large portion of yours? Last I checked, the VAST majority of your life at this point has been in service as a Crystal Gem. Your life as a servant is no fainter a memory than mine with my parents! But of course, time has no sway with you does it?” She shakes her head. “You outright REFUSE to let wounds heal, content to let them fester and rot forever, rather than simply move on.”

“I try EVERYDAY.” Pearl hisses, getting fed up with her human self. “I have been trying  _ EVERYDAY _ since I became a Crystal Gem to leave that behind. To try and be more than what I was made to be. I'm  _ ALWAYS _ trying! Always doing more, but it  _ never goes away _ ! That's THOUSANDS OF YEARS of memories that I'm trying to move past!”

“Is that a reason or an excuse?” The human mutters, glaring at the gem with her arms crossed. “It's all relative, Pearl. Just as big a part of my life was as terrible as yours. But here I am, a lowly human, with a lowly human intelligence, getting over myself, and making up for all the things I missed because I was too busy being SMOTHERED by my devotion to Rose!”

Pearl goes dead silent. “…What… what do you mean by that last part?”

“Oh dear lord…” She cups her face in one hand, looking at her other self sadly.. “You still don't see it, do you?”

“SEE WHAT!?” The gem screeches, throwing her arms to the side. 

“Pearl, Rose was…” The tears she was holding back spill over, streaming down her face. “She was, despite everything she did for us, the  _ worst _ thing to ever happened to us. She took our lives for so long and squeezed every last drop of independance we had out of us.”

“How DARE you?!” Pearl screams, her hands clenched into shaking fists at her sides. “I have lived a vibrant and full life thanks to her!”

“No!” The other Pearl snaps back. “You lived the vibrant and full life  _ SHE _ wanted you to have! Rose RUINED my life, but at least I admit it!” She takes a shaky breath. “She ruined your life, and you're too blind to even see it! To see how much she  _ owned _ you!”

Pearl gasps. “She did not OWN me! Not for the last 5000 years!”

“Name ONE thing you've done that she didn't want you to do, or that you didn't think would make her happy!”

“I-I-I” She stammers. “W-well, what's  _ YOUR _ excuse?”

“A human lifespan!” The human Pearl shouts finally. “I have eighty to ninety years! Tops! You had an ETERNITY! And you decided the best way to spend it was in her SHADOW!?” She looks away from her gem alternate. “Even twelve years later you’re  _ still _ living in her shadow…”

The gem is silent for several moments. “Rose was my entire existence.” She admits quietly. “I don’t know how to move on from that…”

“Then  _ learn _ .” The other Pearl commands, with a staggering degree of finality. “For his sake… If not your own.”

“I’ll try.” She glances over at Steven, who seems to be cheerfully talking to himself. “You’re right. I have too.”

“And now…” The other Pearl finally smiles, a look of sympathy and kindness in her eyes. “You will. You’re strong Pearl, stronger than even you know. And now, you can finally prove it.”


	27. Ethics and Independence

### Chapter 24

#### Ethics and Independence

Peridot watches her Pearl approach the gem through narrowed eyes, when there’s a sudden tap on her shoulder. She looks over her at herself, or more so her gemself, with her visor instead of glasses and honest to god triangular hair. And that’s not even the most bizarre part of her appearance- though perhaps questioning why she looks the most different from her human alternate isn’t the best thing to do when there are monsters circling around them. 

“Why don’t you have legs?” She asks flatly. 

“… Because they were amputated. Why do you have extenders on all of your limbs?”

“They’re enhancers to help me at my job!”

“… And your job is, what, exactly?” The human Peridot frowns, crossing her arms. “I never quite understood it.”

The gem sighs. “Of course you didn’t. It goes  _ far _ beyond your primitive little human engineering job.”

“Dear god, I’m a jerk…” The human mutters, staring at the floor. 

The gem clears her throat. “I am a specially constructed technician and a certified kindergartener.”

“… certified kindergartener?” The human snorts. “While I assume that means you are certified to work in a Kindergarten- as in that canyon place where Quartzes are made- but…” She snickers. 

“What!? What’s so humorous to you about my job title!?”

“Kindergarten is one of the lowest levels of human schooling. Quite literally only preceded by  _ preschool _ .” 

“… As if that matters!”

The human Peridot shakes her head. “I'm really sorry, it's just…” She sighs. “Why do you think so highly of yourself?”

“Well, I don't, but I'm certainly better than these Crystal Clods.”

“Then why are you working for them?” Peridot asks her gem alternate flatly, just staring her down.

The gem Peridot scowls. “I am doing this for my own survival!”

“Ah yes, because these 'Crystal Clods' managed to singlehandedly escape your ship, thwart your security detail, CRASH said ship, and leave you stranded on Earth.” She tilts her head to the side. “Is that correct?”

Peridot goes silent for a moment. “I blame Jasper for that failure.” She growls slightly. “She's the one who disrupted my mission.”

“Ah yes, your mission to…” She pauses, her face screwed up in concentration. “Wait, what the hell was your mission again?”

“To check on the progress of the cluster!” She stomps her foot, generating a metallic clang. 

“Ah yes, your glorious mission, which amounts to the intergalactic equivalent of checking to see if the OVEN TIMER dinged.” The human girl rolls her eyes. “You must be  _ SO _ proud.”

Peridot glowers at her human alternate. “It was a very important mission!”

“From who?” The human rolls her eyes. “Your dumb boss?”

The gem goes dead silent, blinking several times. “Dumb boss? You  _ DARE _ speak of the great Yellow Diamond as something as human as a 'boss'? She is a commander! A leader! A RULER!”

“Wait…” Peridot shakes her head. “Wha? Y-you're speaking metaphorically, right? I know Jesse likes to ACT like a queen, but she's not actually some kind of tyrannical overlord in your world, right?”

“Ugh.” Peridot groans. “Stop trying to compare it to your human life.” She scowls at herself. “She is a member of the great Diamond Council!”

“The hell is that?” The human girl questions, staring at the gem with narrowed eyes.

The gem’s eye twitches. “THE RULERS OF HOMEWORLD YOU STUPID PILE OF ORGANIC MATTER!”

“Wait, rulers?” The human shakes his head incredulously. “They're like, overlords of your whole RACE? And they commissioned some kind of super monster to KILL A PLANET?”

“Yes.” Peridot answers flatly. “They rule the entire gem empire. White Diamond rules homeworld. Yellow Diamond the Military. And Blue Diamond the colonies and most matters of science.” She sighs. “And yes, towards the end of the war the clusters was commissioned.”

“How can you just…” She grabs her head, groaning. “Work for a group of people that commissioned a planet to be destroyed? A whole planet!”

“Do you think I have choice in the matter?!” Peridot snaps, her fingers curling into a semblance of fists.

“Does it matter!?” The human screams. “I mean… I can't… I just.... You work for genocidal monarchs!?”

“Listen, meatsack,” The gem scoffs, crossing her arms. “I don't exactly have a plethora of available career options.”

“That is not an excuse!” The human snaps, glaring hard at her gem counterpart. “That is an excuse for putting up with minimum wage as a barista in a bad part of town because you have no work experience!” She takes a deep breath. “Not for letting people DESTROY PLANETS!”

“I would be executed IMMEDIATELY if I showed defiance of ANY kind!” Peridot snaps, then looks like she regrets the words immediately.

“Well, I mean…” The human Peridot glances around the room, with everyone seeming to be talking to themselves. “The Crystal Gems seem to be doing fine.”

“The Crystal Gems used to be an ARMY numbering in the TENS OF MILLIONS.”

“…Oh.” The human goes silent for a moment, taking that in. “Do you at least get paid vacation?”

“ _ …What _ vacation?” The gem responds flatly, staring at the human.

“Do… Do you not get paid for your labour?”

“Only a small stipend, and most of that goes back into my work.”

“Oh GOD.” The human groan, hiding her face in her hands. “I'm JUST AS BORING in an alternate universe where I'm a goddamned MAGIC SPACE ALIEN as I am now. And my benefits for my crappy job are  _ worse _ .”

“Hey!” The gem snaps. “My life is HIGHLY eventful!”

“Name ONE person you hang out with.”

“Well, I mean…” The gem trails off. “I spend a lot of time around Jasper-”

“Work colleagues don't count.” 

“Okay FINE!” The gem snaps, scowling at the floor. “I have no friends! happy!?”

The human Peridot’s shoulder’s slump, and she sighs, hanging her head. “Not… Really.”

“Why are you depressed all of a sudden?”

“BECAUSE I SUCK!” She screams. “YOU suck! WE BOTH SUCK!”

“… I am incredibly skilled at my job.” Peridot mutters.

“And what else!?” The humans throws her arms to the side. “What other quality do you bring to the table as a PERSON aside from your technical qualifications?”

“That is irrelevant!” The gem takes a deep breath. “The only thing that is relevant to a worker such as myself is how capable I am at my job.”

“That's not true.” She reaches forward, grabbing her gem alternate by both arms. “You know that isn't true. You lie to yourself everyday, telling yourself the only thing that matters is whether or not she's happy with the work you've done, when, deep down, all you've EVER wanted is for someone to care about you, just once. For someone to give a damn about whether you live or die.”

“The only thing that makes me of value is my skill as a technician…” She ducks her head.

“Then why do you care so much about whether or not they like you?” She glances over at the two Stevens.

“The Steven is… nice.”

“And you want to be nice to him back.” The human smiles at the gem. “And it feels… good, doesn't it?”

“… Yes.”

“… You don't really want to go home all that much anymore, do you?”

“I… I don't know.”

Peridot sighs. “… Neither do I.” She smiles. “But you know what? That's okay. For the first time in my life, I'm fine with not knowing. Know why?”

“…Why?” 

The human Peridot smiles gently putting a hand on the gem’s shoulder. “Because I'm having fun finding out."

The gem smiles weakly at her human counterpart, happy to have heard her, and happy to be heard.

 


	28. The Benefit of Perspective

### Chapter 25

#### The Benefit of Perspective

Amethyst’s eyes follow the Slinkers as they circle around the room. 

“Uh… hey.”

Amethyst turns to look at her human alternate “Oh, uh, hey.”

“Wow…” She smiles, vaguely in awe. “You're really real, huh? I almost couldn't believe it.”

Amethyst is silent for a moment. “Of course.” She grins. “It's pretty hard to believe that two people as awesome as we are could exist.”

The human Amethyst chuckles. “You got that right sister!” Her smile fades. “So… you're life was pretty crazy, huh?”

“Eh.” The gem shrugs. “I guess, but eh.”

“Don't just blow me off like that.” She crosses her arms. “Your history is CRAZY. I mean, I thought my birth was pretty sucky but… you? You were MADE.” She shakes her head. “I just… How do you DEAL with that?”

“I mean, like, all gems are made.” The gem shrugs again. “'Cept Steven. It's no big deal. I was just made on Earth.” She forces a smile, feeling awkward about the way this conversation is going.

“… Your uncomfortable.” The human groans. “Damnit! Sorry, I was- I was just… I was just happy to not be so alone for once.”

“Oh!” Amethyst claps her hands together. “Sorry! Sorry! I just don't usually talk about it. I was like, totally confused why you brought it up!”

“I know, it’s weird, I’m sorry. I just…” She pauses. “I just wanna know how you do it. How do you just… deal with your past? how do you not let it define you?”

“I just… Do.” She shrugs, just convincingly enough to pass the scrutiny of her counterpart, but little else otherwise. “It's no biggie.”

“But HOW? I mean…” She sighs, hanging her head. “I… My parents abandoned me when I was born. Because of that, I never really had parental figures growing up. For a long time, I bounced from foster house to foster house, until the Diamonds finally took me in. The thing is… Despite all that's happened since then, I can never shake the feeling that that was  _ who I am  _ inside. That all that I am is some unwanted loser with no parents, and that I'll never be more than that. How… how do you not let who you started as bother you?”

Amethyst forces a laugh. “I just was like, made here on Earth. It's not a big deal. Rose found me, and took me in, and everything was fine. No lingering problems at all.”

“That's…” The human girl trails off. “That's it? Nothing else?”

“That's it!” A smile is plastered on her face. “My life is coolio.”

The human girl shakes her head. “Oh  _ god _ . There IS something wrong with me!” She puts her head in her hands and starts crying. “How? How can I be such an emotional wreck all the time, when you have so much more crap on your plate, and are still fine!? The HELL is my excuse?”

Amethyst’s face falls as her human alternate breaks down. “Crap. Nononono. I'm lying! Crap!”

“W-what?” The human girl intones confusedly, wiping the tears from her eyes.

“I was freaking made by a process that almost destroyed the Earth!” Amethyst shreeks. “Did you REALLY think I was OKAY with that!”

“Well, it's just…” She waves her hands, struggling for words. “You seem so… so cool. Like nothing fazes you. I look at what you guys do, all the cool stuff that happens in your life, and I just can't help but feel like my dumb sob story just… isn't worth getting sad over, if yours is so much worse and you're fine.”

Amethyst shakes her head. “God, don't you know yourself at all? I PRETEND I'm fine, but I'm… really not.” She glances over at the two Pearl’s talking to each other. “Better than P. though.”

“Yeah, but a Jenga tower is more structurally sound than your Pearl, if I’m speaking honestly.” She sighs. “It's just… Even if you have issues, the fact that you can FUNCTION with the backstory you have is staggering! I mean, you were made out of a cliff face! That's… that's crazy!”

“The whole 'being made' thing isn't the problem, exactly.” She pauses. “All gems are made.”

“Then…” The human girl looks seriously at the gem. “What IS the problem, if that part's 'okay'?”

Amethyst is silent for a moment. “I was made here on Earth. I was made by the very process the others fought to have stopped.” She lets out a slow breath. “And I was abandoned here by my creators.”

“But you're HERE!” Amethyst throws her arms to the side. “You aren't off as a loner, or losing your mind. You're with friends and family, saving the freaking world! How can I compete with that?”

“… You say that like you AREN'T with friends and family.”

“Well, yeah.” Amethyst fidgets awkwardly. “But, like, the hell are my dumb problems compared to yours?”

“Oh, come ON.” The gem scoffs. “Are you  _ seriously _ whining about the fact that my problems are 'worse'? I mean, that is  _ RIDICULOUS _ !” She shakes her head. “I mean, like, I've only ever had the one family, and they were my family right away.” She sighs. “I mean, why do you think mine are so much worse than yours? Aren't our lives supposed to be mirrors of each others?!”

“Well, I mean, kinda?” She shrugs half-heartedly. “They just seemed like hilarious parodies on your end. And the fact that your issues were SO overblown compared to mine made mine feel kinda… I don't know, small? I mean, so much went wrong in your life, didn't it?”

“No.” Amethyst shakes her head. “Not really. I mean, it always stings whenever Pearl brings up how ‘HORRIBLE’ what the gems did to the Earth was, and sometimes I feel like I'm left out whenever the war comes up, and I miss Rose like crazy, but no… Not really.”

“Oh come on. Are you seriously going to try and spin your life as a series of fortunate events?"

“I'm not pretending everything was fine…” She pauses. “Anymore, but you're making it out to be waaaaay more than it is.”

“I am?”

“Yeah, you really kind of are.” She sighs. “I mean, sure it sucks. But not really much more than your past. 'Sides, you're probably better off than me. If I was human I'd probably mooch off Pearl rather than have a job.”

“Well, I mean, I DID for a while…” She pauses. “But I did get better. Got my job back.”

“See? You got better! That's awesome! Yeah, my life sucks, but you've gotten over so much in so little time! And, if I'm being totally honest, things kinda turned out as well as they could have for me. I could've been a part of the bad guys, or I could've been killed for being too short! Or, worse, Rose could've never found me, and I'd still be all alone in that Kindergarten now. Yeah, my life stinks, but…” She smiles. “I guess it isn't so bad.”

“Well, I mean, if you can feel that way about your life…” She looks into the gem’s eyes. “I guess I can cheer up a little about mine, huh?” She smiles weakly.

“Yeah, we're rad.” The grm grins at her human counterpart. “We shouldn't be angsting about our pasts. We should be living each day as awesomely as possible!”

“Yeah!” She laughs. “We can't let the other people have all the fun. We're too cool for that!” She smiles warmly. “… Thanks Amethyst.”

“No, thank you…” She beams.

 


	29. Some Well-Deserved Self-Loathing

### Chapter 26

#### Some Well-Deserved Self-Loathing 

“Hello.” The human Lapis steps up behind the gem Lapis, who turns away from the Slinkers at the greeting. “Nice to finally meet you- er- me, or whichever.”

“Hello!” The gem grins bright. “Nice to meet you too.”

“Yeah, it's still all kinda surreal…” She gestures around them, laughing weakly. She then turns to her gem self, a pensive look on her face, as if she had something to say that she’d been meaning to ask for a while. “Hey, can I ask you a question?”

“Yeah, sure, what?” 

The human girl smiles awkwardly. “Why were you at the bottom of the ocean when I first switched?”

“… Because I was keeping Jasper there.” The gem’s tone is so matter-of-fact that it’s clear that she thinks that her answer should have been obvious.

“Wait, what?” The human Lapis shakes her head in bewilderment. “How? Why?”

“We were, uh, fused.” The gem says, her words seeming directed more to the ceiling than her human counterpart. She looks at the human Lapis. “Certainly you noticed that?”

“I…” The blue haired human girl trails off, frowning. “I remember pain, pain and effort and the massive weight of the water. I remember it feeling like hell.” She shakes her head. “Why on  _ EARTH _ would you do that to yourself!?”

The gems sighs. “I was done being her prisoner, so I made her mine…”

“Wait, wait. Back it up a second.” She holds up a hand, palm out, towards the gem. “Prisoner!? Like, actual prison prisoner?”

The gem Lapis is silent for a moment. “Yes.”

“Wh…” Her voice fades out as she just stares at her counterpart. “What did you  _ do _ ?”

“… I went home and didn't mention who it was that was keeping me on Earth.” She pauses. “And I didn't mention Steven either.”

“So, what, they brought you to Earth as insurance that there were no surprises?”

Lapis smiles weakly. “I believe my official title was 'informant'.”

“Ha! Better than 'chief negotiator'.” She shakes her head. “At least you managed to avoid selling out your friends…”

“Friends?” The gem scowls, shaking her head. “ _ They _ weren't my friends.  _ Only _ Steven was."

“Steven…” She glances over at the chatting kids. “Who you knew for like, a day? You exiled yourself to the bottom of the Atlantic for one kid you’d just met?” She shakes her head. “I mean, he's a great kid, but really?”

The gem spares a brief glance at the two Steven’s as well, and just sighs. “He was the only one who treated me like a person.”

“Still though, I mean, I feel like that was more so a martyr's end.” She narrows her eyes at her alternate. “You didn't do anything wrong, really. Why put yourself through all that?”

“… I didn't see any other way.” She sighs. “It was either fuse with Jasper and take the resulting abomination over or get shattered as a traitor at that point.”

“…What?” She blinks several times, her brow furrowed. “I'm… I'm sorry but, could you repeat that?”

“There was really only the one option.” Lapis frowns, staring grimly at the floor. “She was ordering me to fuse with her, and I'm sure if I refused she would have shattered me on the spot.”

“Yeah, but… you…” She pauses, thinking hard. “You beat her by dragging her into the ocean, right?”

“Yeah.” The gem answers slowly, befuddled by her human counterpart.

“So, she gave this order near a coastline then, correct?”

“Yeah, in front of Steven's house, actually.” Lapis raises an eyebrow. “Why?”

“… Then why the HELL didn't you just fight back!?”

“Have you  _ SEEN _ Jasper?” Lapis shakes her head. “I can't even  _ dent _ that gem, let alone beat her in combat!”

“Not  _ PHYSICALLY _ Lapis, I mean fight back with your powers!” The human throws her arms to the side, just staring incredulously at the gem. “You can command the OCEAN! So why didn't you fight back, WITH THE OCEAN!? Why didn't you just tell her ‘no’, and then punch her in the face? With. The. OCEAN!?!”

“… That…” The gems rubs the back of her head sheepishly. “Didn't occur to me.”

“… WHAT!?” The blue haired human girl screeches. “I've been frantically trying to figure out how to get out of a blackmail to steal a house from my best friend for  _ WEEKS _ . Do you realize how many problems I could fix if I had command of all water? Not only should that be THE FIRST solution you come up with to any problem, you should have thought of it in the  _ MONTHS _ you spent under the sea!”

Lapis is silent for a moment of the other her’s tirade. “… Okay, in my defense it's hard to think while you're maintaining control of a fu-” She stops mid-word, blinking several times. “Wait just a freaking second. You were working for Jasper because you were blackmailed? Really?”

“Well  _ PARDON _ me for being a lowly swimmer and lifeguard and not a GOD OF THE SEA!” She huffs. “When I'M presented with a task by a big, burly woman on threat of a lawsuit for a goddamn broken antique mirror, and on the threat of potential violence should I not comply, I have fewer options.”

“No, no, no, that's not what I mean.” The gem shakes her head. “They chose you because you're friends with Steven's dad or something, right?”

“Well, yeah. We met through Rose years ago and have been good friends ever since.” She shrugs. “What's your point?”

“Well, I mean, if he owns a giant manor house to steal in the first place, he  _ probably _ has enough money to loan you some to pay off your debt if you'd just ask him.”

“That-” The human stops, just blinking several times. “That is… a very… good point…” She looks down at the floor, frowning “…Huh.” She looks back up at her other. “I guess we both kinda suck at this, huh?”

“… We really do, don't we?”

“Yeah…” The human girl trails off, going silent for a moment. “But, hey, at least there are people out there to help us, right? No matter how many bad decisions we make, there are still people who care about us in the end. That's more than people like Jasper can say.”

Lapis grins. “Yeah! We're better than Jasper!"

“And THAT'S something we can both be proud of!" The human Lapis grins back.

  
  



	30. Silly Little Kid Stuff

### Chapter 27

#### Silly Little Kid Stuff 

Steven watches, somewhat mesmerized, as the Slinkers circle around the rapidly shifting room.

“Hello, alternate universe me!”

He jumps, startled, but whirls around, grinning at his alternate universe counterpart all the same. “Right back at you buddy!”

“So, I think the universes kinda smushed into each other at this point.” He squints, looking around the room. “You think we can still fix this?”

“Well…” Steven bites his lip, looking around the room quickly as well. “We're still here aren't we? And the Slinkers can't seem to do anything yet, so yeah! I think we can!”

“Cool! Good to hear!” He looks around again, clearly vaguely bewildered. “Man, this is all pretty crazy, huh?”

“Oh, yeah, this is really crazy, even by gem standards.” Steven laughs quietly.

“Oh, yeah, but even that's been pretty crazy.” The human smiles at the half-gem. “I gotta say, you live a life of high adventure my friend. I mean, fighting monsters and stuff? That sounds so cool!”

“Ugh, but you're so LUCKY.” The half-gem smiles, laughing slightly. “I mean, Connie is your next door neighbor! How cool is that!?” 

“Aw, well, when you put it like that, it is pretty neat.” Steven laughs sheepishly. “But the others don't live with me.” He pauses. “Although, Amethyst does take a LOT of breaks, so I do see her a lot.”

“I bet you have more time to hang out with your friends though.” The half-gem sighs. “I mean, I've barely SEEN Peedee outside of getting fry bits since gem stuff started getting serious.”

“I guess life is a lot of give and take.” The human shrugs. “Though, it was fun to see your life, even for a little while.”

Steven grins. “Same goes for you.” He pauses holding up a hand. “May I bring up a serious issue?”

“Sure, shoot.”

“Do you mourn the death of Cookie Cat as much as I do?” He takes a deep breath. “It's been over a year, and I STILL miss them!” 

“Oh. My. GOSH!” The human Steven grins widely. “FINALLY a kindred spirit in my neverending vigil for the greatest feline confectionary to ever grace store shelves! Not a day goes by that I do not miss its strawberry and vanilla splendor.”

“It truly was a tragic day when Cookie Cats went off the market.” The half-gem bows his head briefly before looking back up at his alternate. “You know what really sucks though? Lion LOVES those stupid replacements, 'Lion Lickers'!”

“Oh wow!” The human grins. “Mine does too! But Pearl keeps telling me not to buy them for him because they make him gassy. But how can I resist that lil' kitty face?”

“Your Lion is a lot smaller than mine.” Steven laughs. “Mine tries to eat them with the plastic still on.”

The other Steven chuckles. “Yeah. Although, near as I can tell, yours doesn't have a three-dimensional digestive system, so a lack of litter boxes is a plus.”

The half-gem is silent for a moment. “… You know, I'd never really thought about that.” He snickers. “Lion just does whatever he wants most of the time.”

“Yeah. Though, I think that's all cats, to some level or another.” He pauses, and looks around. “I… Uh, I think we're supposed to be discussing our deep-seated emotional issues, or at least that's what everyone else seems to be doing.”

“Uuuuhhh. I, uh…” The half-gem glances around as well. “Uhm, I really wish I knew more about my mom?” He says it like a question.

“Yeah… Me too.” He pauses. “And I sometimes kinda feel like my friends blame me for her not being around.”

“Uh, Yeah, It feels like the gems blame me sometimes too.” He frowns, staring at the floors. “And, uh, I guess sometimes I don't feel like a gem or a human? I dunno. That's really about it.”

“Well, I can't really parallel there. Although apparently my mom's side is just LOUSY with jerks, so there's that. …Huh. I'm kinda out on my end too.”

“You know, I'm very curious about your mom's sisters.” Steven frowns. “Gem's don't have siblings.”

“Well, I don't know much about them.” He shrugs. “My mom apparently estranged herself from the Diamond family a little while after she finished high school. She even changed her name. Other than that, aside from their names, Aunts Jessamine, Lily, and Iris are kinda unknown to me too.”

“Huh.” Steven frowns, crossing his arms. “Well, uh, Pearl said that someone named Jessamine was like… your universe's version of someone named Yellow Diamond. But I don't know who Yellow Diamond is, so that's not really helpful…”

“…Do you ever feel like you're out of the loop sometimes?” 

“Often.” The half-gem says immediately, pausing for a moment after. “It's getting better though. They're telling me more.” 

The human Steven nods. “Yeah, same on my end.” He lets out a slow breath. “I mean, I didn't even know I HAD aunts until a few months ago. They may not trust me with everything quite yet. But I know they trust me enough to learn when I'm ready.”

The half-gem Steven nods. “Yeah, that's about right.” He pauses. “I didn't know the gems were aliens until like a year ago.”

The human stares blankly at the half-gem for a moment. “That… might be a slightly bigger secret than my thing…”

“Well, I don't have Aunts or Uncles, unless my dad is hiding siblings.”

“Uh… That's not-” The human cuts himself off, shaking his head. “You know what, nevermind. Thanks for all the adventure Steven.”

Steven smiles. “No problem! Thank you for… well, your comparatively calm life, Steven. It's really nice.”

“Aww shucks.” The human waves down the compliment, smiling. “Now then, I think we should, like, prepare for battle or something. I think everyone's gathering up now, Amethyst even stopped crying at each other. You ready for one last hurrah?” He raises the garbage can lid.

Steven summons his shield, grinning. “You betcha.”

  
  



	31. Never Alone; Alone Together

### Chapter 28

#### Never Alone; Alone Together 

Garnet carefully watches the slinkers circling the room, her fists raised with her gauntlets summoned. She’s ready to attack in an instant should she need too.

“I don’t think they’re going to do anything yet.”

Garnet lowers her fists, looking at her human self. “Probably not, no. But we can’t dawdle for too long.”

“Of course not but-” The human looks around at everyone talking to themselves, and many of them already seeming upset, and she sighs.

“What?”

“They’re a mess…”

“… Yes.” The gem nods in agreement, not even bothering to look around.

“I…” The human sighs. “They need me, they always have, whether they knew it or not.”

“… What do you mean?” The gem Garnet’s gauntlets vanish. 

“I grew up in a normal house.” She frowns. “I had parents who loved me, and my dad made enough money to keep food on the table. So I never had that much strife. I had no big problems, which, to Pearl and Amethyst, meant I was  _ perfect _ .”

“…And they looked to you for support.”

“All the time!” The human crosses her arms, looking down at the floor. “It was easier when it was just Pearl. She had problems, but at least there was Rose to help when things went wrong.” She sighs. “But it never got better.” She shakes her head. “At some point Rose stopped being a supportive crutch and started being this…” She groans quietly. “This idol, that Pearl worshipped like a goddess. Meanwhile, whenever something bad happened,  _ I  _ was always the one she looked to for help. She never considered my own problems, my own feelings, she thought I was always strong, just because I was tall and seemed happy.” She takes off her sunglasses, staring sadly at the floor. “It's… It's just so lonely. It was so lonely, not having anyone to lean on, when everyone expected to have you to lean on themselves. I so desperately needed someone to confide in… So I made them up myself.”

“Ruby and Sapphire.”

“It made everything so much easier!” She looks up at her gem counterpart, smiling slightly. “They kept me level, they kept me sane. It was good…” She trails off, and sighs again. “Until it got worse. Amethyst came around. And, while she was a great friend, she just made Pearl worse for her being there. Her attitude drove Pearl up the wall, something Rose never seemed too bothered at. And they often ended up pitying themselves together, which just made their self-confidence worse.” She goes silent for a moment, deeply frowning. “And then… And then Sapphire started telling me things. Things that hadn't happened yet. Things that could happen, and would or wouldn't depending on my input. I thought it would help my relationship with my friends, help me make them better. But-”

“But instead it just made them look to you more.” The gem cuts across, sounding understanding. “As if you had all the answers.”

“It was so…” The human grits her teeth. “So  _ frustrating _ ! Everything I did just made it worse! Even as they looked to me as a mental crutch, they looked to Rose as an emotional one. She was kind, funny, helpful. She made you feel like you were everything! And then…” Tears well up in her eyes, but she blinks them away quickly. “She was gone.”

“So they looked to you all the more.” The gem murmurs. “They started acting like you were the new perfect one, the stoic leader who could keep them together.” She pauses, frowning at the floor. “But that just made you all the more worried you couldn't live up to it.” She crosses her arms. “So you pushed them away, you tried to become the role model they needed, even at the expense of your relationships.”

“But I was never alone; I had Ruby and Sapphire.”

“But you  _ WANTED _ Amethyst and Pearl.”

Both Garnets go silent for a minute, just staring at each other.

“… I wanted to be a boxer.” The human says, breaking the silence.

“Hm?”

“A professional boxer.” She clarifies, sighing. “It was my dream. I was pretty good at it too. My coach said I could be the best fighter the heavyweight league had ever seen. But… But that would have meant traveling away. It would have meant leaving Beach city.”

“It would have meant leaving them.”

“So I became a cop, because it meant I could plea Amethyst's case and look the other way whenever she did something stupid. I bought a house next to Pearl, and gave her a copy of my key so she could come in whenever she was having a nervous breakdown. Everything I did, I did for their benefit.”

“And they never understood how much that hurt.” The gem takes her visor off, all three of her eyes closed. “How alone it made you feel.”

“I missed Rose too, damnit!” The human wipes at her eyes, clearly trying very hard not to cry. “I missed her just as much as they did! But I didn't cry at her funeral. Not one tear. I  _ couldn’t _ have. I couldn't let them see me like that. I need to be their shoulder to cry on. Not the other way around.”

“You missed her because Rose was the only one who really tried to understand you.”

“You don't get many friends when you have two imaginary ones in High School.” She sighs. “But Rose never cared. She wanted to meet them, she talked to them, she talked to me. She treated me like a person to be understood, not a weirdo to be ignored, or a rock to be clung onto.”

“And when she was gone, she left a void in you because of that.” Garnet murmurs, gently putting a hand on her alternate’s shoulder and looking her in the eyes. “But you couldn't let that get in the way. You did everything you could to fill every role for the rest of them. And you trusted Ruby and Sapphire to keep you together, whilst ignoring the emptiness you felt inside despite it. The need to form bonds with your friends that weren't based on respect or reliance.”

The human is silent, just staring at the gem.

“You had almost given up hope on being understood… But then, he came along.”

“Steven…” The human Garnet smiles, and glances over at the two Stevens.

“He cared about you. He tried to connect with you.” She smiles. “He  _ WANTED _ to understand you, understand Ruby and Sapphire, and how they made you whole.” She weaves her hands together, the gems clicking against each other. “He didn't care that you weren't perfect. He thought you were awesome, just for being you.”

“He let me be weak.” She sighs happily. “He let me be who I was, instead of who I needed to be.”

“He's my perfect little angel.” The gem murmurs, closing her eyes.

“And I tell him every day.” The human smiles over at the Steven’s.

After a moment the two Garnets smile at each other. 

The human Garnet clears her throat. “I'm… Sorry.” She laughs nervously. “I didn't mean to break down like that. I didn't even give you a chance to work through your problems.”

The gem reaches forward, grabbing both of the human’s shoulders. “You already did.” She lets go, putting back on her visor, resummoning her gauntlets, and looking around.

“We have trouble coming.” The other Garnet murmurs, raising her own fists- only seeming mildly startled as a pair of identical gauntlets appears on her fists as well.

“All right, like we discussed, I handle the gems, you handle the fleshy ones.” A voice that was unmistakably Jasper spoke from behind the door leading into the boiler room.

“Who died and made  _ you _ leader?” Another, identical voice asked, clearly mildly annoyed at the whole situation.

“Just shut up and get ready, they’re past this door, I can hear them. On three.”

“One”

“Two…”

“THREE!”

At once, two Jaspers, one human, one gem barrel into the room, the chaos of the Slinkers only seeming to incense them more towards violence, and the two Garnet’s share a smile, and each punch one Jasper- sending them crashing back into a Slinker. The identical plant-like monsters crash into the walls on either side of the room, jittering violently as they seem to forcibly hold themselves together. Then, as one, they begin a further advance, whatever force was holding them back seeming to begin to weaken tremendously, and astonishingly quickly.

The gem Garnet turns to her counterpart. “We’re out of time.” She raises her gauntlets into a fighting stance.

The human woman reciprocates the battle stance. “Good. We’re ready.”


	32. Us, Ourselves, and We

### Chapter 29

####  Us, Ourselves, and We 

By the time the Slinkers had made their move, the gems and humans had gathered themselves fully, and were more than ready to combat the oncoming threat. As the Slinkers advanced, they rose up to a great height and roared at the assembled group, attempting to shake their resolve. This play ultimately backfired when, having reared themselves up to the rafters of the room, both of the snake-like monstrosities got  a sudden blast of steam straight to their faces, as multiple gaskets along the ceiling burst before them.

“Ha! Eat it you freaky plant things!” The human Lapis cheers, as she and her counterpart begin coalescing the gathered mist into small balls of water, and firing them at the reticulated beasts. The pair of Garnets descended upon a Slinker each, the two of them jumping onto the beasts’ heads and indiscriminately punching them down.

The two Jaspers, having been momentarily knocked aside when they collided with the corrupted gem and its shadow, rose to their feet and angrily scanned the room, out to do damage. They quickly settled upon their own world’s Stevens, each one waving their hands as if to get their attention. “Hey Jasper, over here!” The half-gem Steven calls out to the orange warrior gem, raising his shield in preparation.

“You’re never getting my mom’s house! Not you, or any of my lame aunts!” The human Steven calls out to the hired enforcer, goading the woman on.

“Why you-!” The gem Jasper doesn’t even finish her sentence before running headlong at her world’s Steven, and her other the same. As they both ran at the small children, they hadn’t taken the time to assess the area, and failed to notice the two Amethysts on either side of them, nor the pair of whips held end-to-handle between the two of them. Upon approach, the two stout women pull with all their might, tightening the whips at just the right moment to catch both Jaspers’ legs, sending them flying forward of- kilter into each Stevens’ defenses, the loud *CLANG* on both ends signifying the significant damage to each of the burly enforcers.

Meanwhile, across the room, a battle had begun full force. The Garnets had taken to impeding the Slinkers’ motions, grabbing at their forms in a wrestling bear hug, attempting to throw the creatures left and right in order to stop them from assaulting their foes. Down on the ground, the Pearls had summoned their spears and were firing volley after volley of white energy blasts at the monsters before them.

The gem Peridot followed suit, transforming one of her arms into a plasma cannon and firing a series of green energy pulses at the same Slinker as the one the other gems were fighting. The human Peridot… just sort of stood there, seemingly lost, as she seemed to lack a weapon. As the Slinker before her screeches and whips its tail at the human Pearl, sending her careening away and giving chase, the human Peridot turns to her gem counterpart. “Hey! I don’t have a weapon!”

“How grossly unfortunate for you!” The gem shouts over her shoulder, not turning away from the massive corrupted gem before her.”

“Hey! Come on, I can’t just stand here and-” The woman pauses, clearly having a thought. “Hey, can both your arms do the plasma cannon thing?”

“Of course, though dual-firing is grossly inaccurate and thus never us- HEY!” The technician gem is startled when her human self grabs her idle arm and, pressing a button on the side, removes it, before quickly placing it over her own arm, the little finger cylinders levitating back into place.

“Now we’re talking!” The secretary grins as the green cylinders reorganize themselves into their plasma blaster form, and she begins firing upon the snake-plant gem beast.

The fight continues for what seems like hours, the Stevens, Amethysts, and occasionally Pearls taking the job of distracting and harassing the two Jaspers, whilst the Garnets tackle the Slinkers repeatedly, the Peridots aiding through ranged assault, with the twin Lapis’ providing aerial support, flying over the battlefield and shooting jets of pressurized water from the pipes above.

Eventually, as each Jasper wrestles with their Amethysts, both of which had managed to grapple onto the warrior woman’s back, the two fighters finally manage to throw their assailants off, sending them careening into the walls. They both turn towards the Stevens. “YOU!” They both scream, rushing at the boys with rage and fury, the two only barely managing to raise their bubbles in time to stop them. The two Jaspers, seemingly undeterred by the sudden appearance of the pink forcefields, merely pushed harder, shoving the rose-tinted orbs into the two Peridots, who were blindsided by the sudden strike. The Stevens slowly rise to their feet, looking worriedly at the two approaching women.

“That. Is. IT!” The gem Jasper snarls as she approaches the half-gem boy.

“We have had it up to HERE with you bunch of fools!” The human her continues.

“I don’t care if TEN universes are at stake here.”

“If stopping this means you go down with us…”

The two brutes chant in unison. “Then consider. It. DO-” Was all the two managed to say before, shock of utmost shocks, their monologue was cut off by the lashing tails of both Slinkers, who whipped either of them across the room, where the collided back to back. The two warriors hit so hard that the resounding slam echoed through the room, a sudden puff of smoke upon impacting signifying the end of the threat from the gem Jasper, and the dull thud made by the human Jasper upon her motionless body hitting the floor made it obvious that she was out cold too.

The half-gem Steven, looking at this sudden knockout unfold, is suddenly hit by inspiration, his eyes lighting up as a plan begins to form. “Wait… if the two of them can’t poof when separate…” He turns to his human self who, by the smile on his face, had a similar plan. “You thinking what I’m thinking.”

“Probably!” The human boy grins, before turning to address the assembled group. “Guys! We’ve gotta get them to hit each other!”

“Distract them into position, then slam them across the room! Just like Jasper!” the half-gem Steven finishes.

“And you know this will work how!?” The gem Peridot questions, firing a seemingly pointless flurry of blasts at the Slinker.

“He doesn’t!” The gem Garnet growls, holding on to the corrupted gem for dear life as it bucks and flails.

“But we have to try!” The human Garnet agrees.

“Works for me!” Both Lapises agree together, just barely dodging out of the way of a whip from their Slinkers’ tail.

“Peridot! Covering fire!” The human Pearl shouts, before letting loose a full volley of energy blasts at the Slinker, pushing it closer to the centre of the room.

“R-right!” The human Peridot agrees, before following suit with her ranged attacks.

And so all the gems and humans coordinated. The series of energy blasts, water jets, and tower shielding by the Stevens pushing both Slinkers to the centre of the room, where the final strike can be dealt.

“Steady… Steady…” The half-gem Steven mutters to himself, before glancing at his doppelganger, who nods in agreement.

The both shout together. “GARNET! NOW!”

The two tall boxers immediately backflip off the Slinkers, spinning in the air before landing feet-first against each of the far walls. Then, as one, they both push off the stony walls of the chamber/boiler room, flying, gauntlet-first, into the twin forms of the Slinkers, the massive corrupted gem having nothing to leverage against the strike, and slamming into itself with titanic force. There is a brief moment of utter de-evolution of space, when both Slinkers merge back into one, aligning perfectly in one moment of utmost synchronicity, before letting out a deafening scream, jittering and glitching violently, before finally, at last, poofing into its gem, a massive explosion of smoke finally heralding the end of the pan-dimensional terror.

As the dust settles, and the gem clatters to the floor in front of them, the gems and humans scarcely have time to cheer before the world shifts one final, tremendous time. The entire universe seems to shake, as reality violently readjusts itself to its proper form, leaving the entire assembled group in a room that was unmistakably the chamber of the Crystal Heart, nothing more, nothing less.

It is the gem Steven who first speaks up. “D-did we win?” He asks, still happy, but also thoroughly confused.

“I don’t know. This is clearly the Crystal Heart chamber, but the other us’s are still here.” The gem Pearl glances around at the assembled mottley crew.

“Very strange indeed.” The human Pearl continues. “Perhaps if we-” All the speculation was abruptly brought to a halt when, right behind where the gem of the Slinker lay dormant, a large archway of ethereal light bursts upwards, its myriad multicoloured energies slowly forming and coelescing within it, until the portal’s view clears, revealing what is clearly the image of the boiler room of the Diamond Manor on the other side.

The whole group stands in shocked silence.

“…What.” The human Amethyst intones, simply staring at this, the well and truly strangest thing she’d seen since all this had begun.

The revelry and confusion did not last long as, behind the group, the human form of Jasper slowly rose to her feet, growling and snarling as she eyed the assembled crew. “DIEEEEEEEE!!!” She shouts, running at the group in general, not even bothering to pick a specific target. This lack of focus is her final demise, as both Stevens, sticking out a foot each, trip the female enforcer, sending her sliding on her face past the gems and humans, through the ethereal portal, and head-first into one of the low laying pipes in the boiler room, the massive, echoing clatter as her skull dents the steel piping being the absolute indicator that now, and surely, she was unconscious.

“…Well, now I  _ know  _ we won.” The half-gem laughs. “We did it! We WON! Ha!” He darts over to the portal, poking his head through. “Huh. It just… goes to the other universe! We’re like, forever connected now! How cool is that!?”

The gem Pearl lets out a sigh of relief. “Yes, that does seem to be… it. Hopefully. Though saying  _ forever _ is a bit presumptuous Steven” She weaves her hands together. “For all we know it could go away at any time…”

“Nope.” The gem Garnet shakes her head. “Far as I can see, it’s forever.”

“Woo! Interdimensional Friends Forever!” The human Steven claps his hands together grinning, and both he and the gem Steven start laughing, happy for what’s over, and happier for what’s just only begun.


	33. Dimensional Harmony

### Chapter 30

#### Dimensional Harmony 

“No, Connie, I’m NOT kidding!” The two Steven’s say at the same time on either side of the portal, and glance over their shoulders at each other, laughing. 

“There  _ really _ is a portal now. It’s cool. Oh, and apparently I get cell signal in the temple? Good to know.” The gem Steven grins. “I’m looking at the other me talking to HIS Connie right now.”

“It’s SO crazy! There’s like a portal in the boiler room now, and their Garnet says it’ll be there permanently? That means we can go to this alternate universe all the time now! Isn’t that  _ cool _ !?” The human pauses. “Hey, can I put you on speaker?”

The gem Steven grins. “Hey, Connie, can I put you on speaker?” 

Both Steven’s put their phones on speaker, and point them at the portal between them. 

“Say hello to yourself Connie!” They say simultaneously, then laugh again, immediately following it up with a simultaneous “Jinx!” and more laughter.

“Uhhh, well there’s  _ definitely _ two Steven’s…” Connie’s voice plays out of the half-gem’s phone. “Hello… me?”

“Uuuuh, Hi?” Her voice plays out of the other Steven’s phone, and the Steven’s grin at each other. 

“Isn’t this so cool!?” The half-gem says excitedly.

“You took the words right out my mouth, me!” The other Steven says immediately.

“So, there’s a portal? Is that all? What happened? How’d the portal get there? Did you get rid of the Slinker?” The Connie from the Gem world asks urgently. 

“Steven there are Police Cars headed to the Beach. What the heck happened!?” The other Connie asks.

“Well…” The human Steven starts. 

“We poofed the Slinkers by throwing them at each other.” 

“And the police cars are coming for Jasper.” The human Steven explains. “This is the second time she’s assaulted someone in a month.” 

“The portal appeared right after the Slinker was poofed.” 

“Pearl thinks that’s it’s the damage the Slinker caused to reality coalesced into a stable thing.”

“Which Pearl?” Both Connies ask at once.

“The Gem one.” The Stevens answer together.

“… Well, what happened to everyone else? Are they all fine?” The human Steven’s Connie asks.

“And What happened to the gem Jasper?” The other Connie immediately adds. 

“The gem Jasper was poofed. She’s in a bubble now.” The half-gem says cheerfully.

“Lapis said she’s going to ask my dad for help to get out of debt.”

“And my Lapis said she’s gonna stay with us!”

“No one is hurt. Tired, but…”

“Not hurt.” The gem Steven yawns. “That was seriously exhausting.”

“I’m going to need a nap soon.” The human Steven murmurs in agreement.

“Well, okay. But like, what about everyone else?” The gem world’s Connie asks. 

“Didn’t your Peridot say she was going to quit her job?” The gem-Steven directs the question toward his other self. 

The human Steven laughs. “Well she was screaming into her phone as she left, so I can only assume that’s already done.”

“Cool. Our Peridot still trying to help up stop the Cluster, so she’s still with us.”

“Oh, right, your planet is still in danger…” The human Steven frowns. “I guess they still have to make sure my stupid aunts don’t get this house on my side, but since Pearl said we might actually live in it again because of this portal thing I’m sure it won’t be a problem.”

“WAIT WHAT!?” The human Steven’s Connie screeches. “Are we not gonna be neighbors anymore?!”

“I don’t know! Pearl hasn’t said! But I think it involves getting my Dad to live here too! And… I’d like to live with my dad AND Pearl…” He laughs nervously. “It’s not like I’d be moving  _ far _ !”

“You two will still live closer together than me and my Steven!” The gem world Connie points out. “I live a whole hour away!”

“… That’s true.” The other Connie concedes. “I mean, I can’t fault you for wanting to live there. It’s a beautiful house, and you’d get to live with your dad…”

“Yeah. In the end, it all turned out pretty okay.” The human Steven grins at the his other. 

The gem Steven grins back. “It really did.”

“See you later Connie!” The two say at the same time, hanging up.

The gem Steven sighs. “I don’t think Pearl would want me to linger in the temple any longer.”

“So…”

“Catch you on the Flipside!” They both say, and walk away laughing, back into their own worlds, separate, but never again apart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINALLY. I can say I am DONE with this story now. I know it could be better, and there are large swathes I'd like to rewrite, but frankly, I just sorta want to leave it all in it's original state, as I wrote is all last December. SO yeah. DONE.


End file.
